A Simple Affair
by Darth-Taisha
Summary: Modern/AU/Itahina/Triangle: While at her engagement party to Naruto, Hinata's lavender eyes lock onto a stranger's dark eyes across the crowded room, and life becomes a lot less simple for her. (This is not a story about infidelity, but about love at first sight at the worst possible time.)
1. Chapter 1

**A Simple Affair**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any of the characters; I am just using some of them for fun.

**Summary:** Modern/AU/Itahina/Naruhina/ While at her engagement party to Naruto, Hinata's lavender eyes lock onto a stranger's dark eyes across the crowded room, and life becomes a lot less simple for her.

**Rating:** Changed to M, for language, sexual tension.

**Note:** This story is not about infidelity, it is about love at first sight, at the worst possible time.

* * *

"I am not going to stay long," Itachi told his brother firmly. "I have a presentation to give at a conference in a month that I have to prepare for."

"As soon as dinner's over, you can leave," Sasuke promised with a slight smirk, he was just happy to get his reclusive brother away from his physics research for one night. Itachi had just returned a few weeks ago from working in a research department over at Boston University for the past few years and he was glad to spend some time with him.

Sasuke knew it was going to be a difficult task to separate his brother from his work, but he was going to try.

Because to say Itachi was a genius, would be too bland of a term for him. He was more like an intellectual giant, a physics and science major who had graduated from the prestigious MIT in America, rather than attending a university in Japan, and he was currently taking a sabbatical from his job to spend time with his family, due to his mother's constant complaining and to do some research and maybe write a few scientific papers.

Sasuke wasn't as intelligent as his brother, but he had just graduated with honors over the summer with a degree in Business and was now working at their father's manufacturing company in Tokyo.

The two brothers stopped in front of the hotel cloak room and divested themselves of their long trench coats, it was November and the weather was turning decidedly cool outside.

The cheerful smile of greeting fell off the face of the young cloak-room attendant after she got a good look at the two men in front of her. Rooted to the spot she could only stare at them with an arrested look on her face. Because if unmitigated perfection could exist in a man, there were two splendid examples of it in front of her.

The elder of the two tall men had shiny black hair that was pulled into a short ponytail with long bangs that framed a face that could only be described as beautifully masculine. He was neither too beautiful, nor too masculine, but a stunning combination of both. There was also a cool serenity about his appearance that made her want to sigh like an idiot.

And the other male was similar in that he was almost too divinely attractive to be real. The combination of longish, black, spiky hair and glittering dark onyx eyes framed by severe eyebrows was making her throat become dry as she stared up at both of them with an awestruck look on her face.

"If you are finished inspecting us, we would like to turn our coats in," Itachi said coolly after waiting several moments with his coat held out in his impatient hand.

The frazzled young woman mumbled something incoherent and immediately took his coat from him.

Sasuke released a harsh sigh as he handed her his coat and turned to follow his brother. "Remind me to never go out in public with you again," he griped caustically about the extremely unwelcome attention the two of them were receiving.

Itachi raised a darkly elegant eyebrow, "I am going to be very busy while I am visiting - I don't think that is going to be a problem you will have to worry about."

"Geez Itachi, all you ever do is work, you need to get out more often."

"My life is fine the way it is," his brother stated with a final look in his eyes that told him this conversation was over before taking a few steps ahead of him.

"Whatever," Sasuke said through tight lips and a dark look behind his annoying brother's back. He followed him until they were in front of the stately ornate glass doors that would lead them in to the engagement party for two of his best friends, he has known since grade school.

He opened the doors, and as he and Itachi emerged through them in their black tuxedos, nearly half of the room stopped talking in near breathless appreciation. The bright chandeliers shone down on the brothers in all of their dark splendor while they gazed unhurriedly around the huge room to find their table.

A dark scowl came over Sasuke's face as he tried not to notice all of the fucking people staring at the two of them as they crossed the room. He was almost glad when he spotted Naruto talking to Ino and Sakura and with a slight nudge of his brother's arm he led him to the table to meet his friends.

* * *

Itachi took a calm sip of his wine as the two annoyingly loud women flanked on either side of him began to bicker back and forth around him about complete nonsense as he leaned back in his chair. Catching his younger brother's darkly amused eyes safely across the table; he sent him a look of mock gratitude.

"You're welcome, Brother," Sasuke told him with a sarcastic smile.

Itachi did not smile back. A glance at the time on his cell phone told him it still was too early to leave, so he determined to just bide his time until he could make his excuses and go back to his rented apartment and his research.

It was with some relief he saw the party host and members of the main table come through a side door and begin taking their seats at the front of the room.

On one side of him, Ino ran her manicured finger playfully down his arm to get his attention.

Very reluctantly, he turned in her direction and gave it to her.

"Itachi, what's it like to live in America?" She asked with a bright smile as she flashed her amazing blue eyes at him.

For survival purposes he mentally started calculating the distance from the moon to the earth in kilometers before answering her, "It's alright."

"Wow, that sounds really interesting, do you like it there?" she prodded and gave Sakura a hostile look over him.

"Yes," he responded shortly, and if he had wanted to continue the conversation with her, he would have confided he had been feeling a little homesick, and that was why he came back to Japan to visit his family.

Not to be outdone by Ino, Sakura chimed in with flashing green eyes, "Itachi, how old are you?"

As he turned in her direction, he began figuring out in his mind the distance from Tokyo to Boston if the plane was flying 507 miles per hour. "I'm 27."

The questions went on back and forth and it was with immense relief when he saw the hotel wait staff begin serving their dinner to them.

* * *

Naruto's hand felt warm as she held it under the main table, their hands were blissfully joined together on the folds of her beautiful pink formal gown. From her position at the front of the room, Hinata's soft lavender eyes surveyed the guests with a joyous sense of gratitude as she recognized many of her friends, co-workers and family and was glad they could celebrate this special occasion with her.

After so many years of hoping and waiting for Naruto to notice her, and just about when she was ready to give up and move on with her life, he asked her out on a date. It had surprised her so much; she didn't know how to respond at the time, and she almost told him no.

Luckily for her, she didn't, and within a few short months, he had proposed to her over a bowl of ramen. It had been one of the happiest days of her life. They had both graduated from the University of Tokyo over the summer, and next month they were planning to get married, in three short weeks. Life was so good for her right now, she could almost pinch herself. All the things she had planned in her life were starting to come true.

Beside her, Naruto released her hand suddenly, and laughed loudly, and pointed toward one of the tables in front of them with a huge grin and a thumbs-up sign.

Taking a small, delicate sip of her wine, she tried not to notice he had used the table cloth for a napkin earlier.

_Oh Naruto_, she thought while helplessly smiling at him, _what am I going to do with you?_

Hinata smiled at his profile as he looked out over the guests, and determined she was going to love him the rest of her life. He was so sunny, so kind, and he put his full heart into everything he did. How could she not love and admire him?

He was everything she had ever wanted out of life.

"Hey Sasuke, shut the hell up!" Naruto yelled out with a huge teasing grin as he looked a few tables away from them.

Hinata could practically feel her father's disgusted eyes rake over him from beside her. To say he disliked her choice of a future husband would be a massive understatement. He felt she could do so much better, and was wasting her life on a "low life," as he liked to called him.

Her family was wealthy, distinguished, and her father was the president of the University of Tokyo. Naruto's family was just comfortable and that was all.

Hinata's mother had died when she was very young and she ended up helping to raise her younger sister, Hanabi, who had been a baby at the time. Growing up, she went to school, managed the household, all without ever complaining to her father.

Once she graduated college and reached the age of majority, she felt her obedience and hard work earned her the right to choose her own husband rather than allow her father to do it for her, which was his preference. It was the first time in her life she had ever taken a stand against him.

And she was here celebrating today, because she had prevailed.

Suddenly, beside her, her father stood up and began chiming his glass above his head with a spoon with very little enthusiasm. He looked down at her with eyes that were stern, but held a hint of love in them for her.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this Hinata?" He asked her as he bent over so only she would hear him.

Hinata smiled softly in return, "I do, Father."

* * *

Hiashi cleared his throat as he surveyed the crowd after the room had become silent. "Thank you all for coming today, you honor us with your presence," he told them and bowed his head politely.

"We are all here to celebrate the engagement of my daughter, Hinata, to someone she has wanted to marry for some time now. Though, I don't quite understand what she sees in the young man…" her father said with a small teasing look at the crowd and polite chuckles sounded all around the room. Only Naruto, Hinata and probably a few others knew his remarks were not made in jest.

Hinata smiled politely at her father's fake joke and her eyes scanned the crowd looking at their smiling faces. Suddenly, her eyes were arrested and held by a pair of unknown dark eyes that were so intensely focused on her, she almost felt consumed by them. She felt a shock of a tremor run all the way through her body as she was sure she was drowning in him as she could only stare helplessly back at him like a lifeline.

There was something vibrantly and passionately alive in their gaze, as her eyes continued to be locked onto his for several long moments. A small choked up sob escaped her when she saw him look away from her, and she realized everyone was starting to stand up and clap their hands.

Almost as if she was in a hazy alternate world, she felt Naruto pull her up and into his arms and saw his blond hair and his blue eyes close softly before he gave her a long kiss on the mouth while the some of the audience cheered. His wet mouth over hers woke her up, and she fought back the crushing wave of misery that was pouring over her.

A few moments later as she stood next to her future husband, the man she was supposed to marry in three weeks, her eyes searched for a pair of dark eyes, but they were gone.

**Author's Note:** I am not sure how long this fic is going to be, I just was in the mood for a more serious, and a little darker triangle. I promise to be gentle to the characters and keep any bashing to a minimum. Hugs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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AN: Thanks for the reviews you guys, it always makes me a little nervous when I post a new story, so I appreciate your support: Fanofthisfiction, Keirii, Yumi Chibi, Dani Stark and guest. HUGS!

* * *

Standing out on the balcony near the balustrade in the dark, Itachi stared out over the brightly glowing city of Tokyo with unseeing eyes. He felt too heartsick to notice how astonishingly beautiful the view at night was.

As though in pain, his hand went to his chest and a hard mirthless laugh escaped him at the thought of how bitterly ironic it was, his mother had been after him for a few years now to meet someone.

His eyes turned bleak as he looked out at the skyline as he thought of how he _did _ tonight… at her engagement party of all things.

A small frown dented his flawless forehead as he mulled over what he saw in her and the answer was simple. The minute he laid eyes on her he could see her fitting into his life, almost seamlessly. And with just one look in to her eyes, he found he wanted to stare in them forever.

At least he had wanted to until he saw his brother's blonde idiot friend, Naruto, Hinata's fiancé, put his hands…and then his mouth on her…

A fierce shudder passed over him as he decided it was time for him to leave this party. There was no point in him staying any longer; it would be just too painful for him to stay. She wasn't available, so he should just go home.

He would just try to avoid her during the rest of his time here in Japan, even though his brother was going to be Naruto's best man. He decided he would change his airline tickets and leave before the wedding actually happened.

He was just about to pull out his cell phone to text his brother and let him know he was leaving when he was interrupted.

"Oh there you are Itachi-san, your brother just told me you were out here," Hiashi Hyuuga said with a polite greeting as he stepped onto the balcony.

"Hyuuga-san, it is nice to see you again," Itachi said a little stiffly as he remembered the last time he saw the Tokyo University President, the older man had been upset because he had chosen to go to America rather than stay in Tokyo and go to the university there.

Hiashi's refined eyes looked a little contrite. "All of that is in the past, my boy. I heard you did very well at MIT?"

"Yes sir, I believe I did," Itachi replied somewhat evasively. People were always talking about his accomplishments and it never failed to make him uncomfortable. If he could avoid talking about them completely, he would.

Hiashi looked at the genius and approved of his modesty, he had tried long and hard to get him to his university, but in the end Itachi had chosen to go abroad.

The older man looked at him uncomfortably for a moment before he asked, "I was wondering if you would be willing to do a favor for me?"

Itachi's still wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, but something about Mr. Hyuuga's voice made him stay and at least hear him out.

* * *

As soon as she was able to break away from the guests, Hinata ran as fast as she practically could in a gown and high heels, and found a small, obscure bathroom clear on the other side of the hotel. She needed some time to think and compose herself and didn't want to meet up with any guests from her party. Once alone inside a bathroom stall, she groaned out loud as she put her face in her hands.

She wanted desperately to deny what had happened earlier, but she couldn't, and didn't even begin to try. Something had happened to her, and she couldn't explain it. It was strange; it was like she was being pulled to him almost against her will and she felt powerless to stop it.

And his eyes... they had looked so deep into hers, they had nearly shattered her.

Shattered her plans for the future, her current life…everything. Since the moment she had seen him staring at her, he was all she could think about. Naruto, and her love for him, was starting to feel like a thing of the past.

Common sense quickly took hold of those foolishly romantic thoughts of hers, and slammed them hard to the ground in her mind. She began to feel awful as her eyes scanned over the beautiful pink dress she was wearing and had searched for so long until she found the perfect one. Seeing it made her situation more clear to her.

She was at her engagement party of all places… and she was thinking about another MAN. Her hands began to shake as her mind and heart became racked with guilt and shame.

_Naruto…I'm so sorry, forgive me._

It was also to her shame she had taken the time to figure out his name, she had looked back at Sasuke's table and with one look at him she knew she had just seen his older brother, the one that has been in America for years.

As she navigated the long, elegant hallways back to the party she just wanted to get through the rest of the evening and sort it all out tomorrow and see if there was a way to make it up to Naruto.

**AN**: I have 2 chapters done, so I am going to post them both. I think this story is going to be a mixture of comedy and angst, just like most of my stories. Please leave me feedback, trust me it will help me write more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

**AN**: **I highly recommend listening to Debussy's Nocturne in d-flat (1892) while reading this, I found it on YT. It is awesomely beautiful.**

* * *

Hiashi watched his daughter as she sat down, and if he noticed anything odd about her tonight, he kept it to himself.

"I have a surprise for you, Hinata," he said in a gruff voice, but with the expectant air of someone who had just pulled off something wonderful.

"You do, Father?" She asked as she felt her heart touched by how thoughtful he was being to her. It wasn't normal for him; he usually was a fairly strict man. The only thing they had in common was music. She played the flute all through high school and college and he played the piano and once in a while they got together in the evenings and played music together. Hanabi played the drums, so she usually would just listen and do her homework.

Growing up, those musical evenings had been indelibly sweet memories for her, the rest of her time had been spent working hard, very hard…trying to fill the role of her mother around the house and keep it all running smoothly.

"I asked Itachi Uchiha to play piano tonight; he is very gifted at it. I saw him play once, years ago when he was still very young, he competed in a piano competition, and I was impressed by his level of skill and interpretation of the piece."

At the mention of his name, Hinata's heart jumped in her chest and she took a deep breath and tried to say as casually as she could, "Sasuke's older brother…doesn't he live in America?"

"Yes, but he is visiting his family right now, and should be in Japan for a few more weeks," her father explained and his eyes watched his daughter closely. He looked around and saw his blonde future son-in-law was over at another table and was talking in a loud voice to a bunch of his and Hinata's friends and a grimace of distaste passed over his face.

Hiashi stood up and began speaking into a microphone, "Everyone, please give me your attention. I have asked someone to perform a few songs on the piano as a special gift from me to my daughter," he said with a smile directed toward Hinata.

He signaled to a worker to cut the lights and a spotlight shone on the grand piano off to the side. As Itachi made his way over to the piano and sat down, Hinata got a good look at his face and she felt like melting in her seat, she had not really seen much about him, except for his eyes. Now that she got a better look at his face, some stray romantic thought told her to just enjoy the moment, and she could try to stop thinking about him tomorrow.

* * *

Itachi was composed as he sat in front of the piano, he had performed many times in public when he was younger and still played occasionally when he had a physics problem he was struggling with or something was bothering him.

Music was a stress outlet for him. Though tonight he decided he would use it to send a message to her, just this once before he never saw her again, he would play just for her.

His beautiful calm eyes looked into her direction for just a moment before he started playing.

Hinata sat still as a statue as those first slow haunting notes of the Debussy Nocturne were like shards of glass in her heart as she felt torn and guilty about her feelings for someone else besides Naruto. Every note he played seemed to reverberate emotionally through her leaving no part of her untouched.

Her eyes met his and her breath caught, as somehow, she just knew he was playing this for her, and only for her.

She was almost unwillingly becoming entranced by him and his breathtaking music and the more she heard the more moved she became. Her face started to flush as she watched this incredibly beautiful man, his long bangs framing his face as he moved his hands over the keys almost as a lover would, masterfully, caressing them.

While he continued to play to her she let the music carry her away as the deeply moving sounds of one of her favorite piano's pieces swelled brilliantly and gorgeously to life under his hands.

From the corner of his eye, Hiashi watched his daughter as tears began to form in her eyes. He had to admit the music was unusually emotional and moving, Itachi was indeed a sublime musician, just like he was in math and science.

But his normally quiet and reserved daughter was wearing her heart on her sleeve, and it wasn't her fiancé she was looking at. Nobody else would be able to tell by looking at her, but he could see it. His eyes turned toward the man playing the piano with a thoughtful look on his face.

Sasuke sat there and looked around at the guests as they listened almost spellbound with rapt attention, which was unusual for a group such as this, as they tend to get drunk and rowdier the later the evening grows. Yet some people even had tears in their eyes.

Something was off though as he listened to his brother play, usually Itachi was very technically proficient and could play just about anything by memory. But tonight the music was more than just executed properly it was exceptionally emotional. The air practically vibrated with…love.

_Oh shit_, Sasuke swore mentally as he looked at his brother behind the piano.

**Author's Note:** Okay, somehow I can't avoid comedy at some point when I write, but it will be unavoidable, there will be some angst in this story. Also, I really hoped you guys listened to the piano music (Debussy) as you read it, I played it numerous times while I was writing it and I could picture him playing that song to her. Ah so romantic... I will try to update soon and answer any questions.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

**AN: **The second song Itachi played is Debussy's Arabesque (1888). It is also very beautiful.

* * *

A long stunned silence met the last chord, before the room erupted in loud applause. Hinata opened her eyes from the intensely beautiful dream world she had been in and her throat closed with emotion when she looked at Itachi on the piano and saw the intensity in his eyes as he looked at her.

Hinata couldn't clap like the rest of the people; she had been too moved for that action, she couldn't even smile. She bit her lip nervously as she wanted to go up and thank him in person, but she knew that would be playing with fire and she should keep her distance. Too many eyes would be on them. While she continued her tortured internal debate, Naruto slid down in his chair and put a casual arm around her neck. His touch against the bare skin of her shoulder startled her almost as much as a bunch of sharps keys being slammed on a piano all at once would.

"Naruto," she blurted out in a breathless shocked sort of voice.

"Hey," he said with a large blue-eyed grin that usually made her feel happy, and little weak in the knees.

A small frown came over her face as she turned away from him; her eyes looked over at the piano and saw Itachi was completely surrounded by adoring females of every age, her own eighty year old Hyuuga great-grandmother was one of them. He looked so harassed and uncomfortable; she choked back a small giggle at the thought that he couldn't leave the piano area even if he wanted to.

Her mirth soon vanished and her eyes darkened with sadness when she realized her window of opportunity to speak to him had just closed.

"Well, I am glad that's over," Naruto said with a grimace. "All that piano music was getting a little boring."

"I-I thought it was wonderful," Hinata said a little wistfully.

Something in her voice made Naruto look at her with unusual perceptiveness and say in a slightly teasing voice, "It looks like he got to you too," and he pointed to the mob of women hanging around Itachi and the piano.

Her guilty conscious compelled her to admit with apologetic eyes, "Yes, a little." The understatement of the century, she knew his piano playing did more than just get to her.

"It's alright, I think it is their Uchiha genes, it makes women go crazy around them," Naruto said with understanding eyes, he had been around Sasuke long enough to know what he said was the absolute truth.

Hinata blew out a sigh of relief and the thought occurred to her maybe he was right about Itachi's effect on women and she had been building too many fantasies about him and the looks they had shared.

Denial was a comfortable place, unfortunately her guilt didn't let her stay there, and she wanted to apologize to him, but didn't quite know how to word it properly. It wasn't like she could tell Naruto straight out that she had been thinking and fantasizing about another man at their engagement party.

Completely oblivious to her inner turmoil he said confidently, "I'm not worried, Hinata. I know you'll never cheat on me, because I'm the only one you will ever love."

She was touched by his trust in her and still felt a twinge of wrong-doing in her heart, but part of her wanted to know why he felt that way. "Why do you believe that, Naruto?"

He smiled as he pointed over in Sasuke's direction. "I came to realize it when Sasuke told me a few months ago he tried to get your attention, but you didn't even notice him, so he just gave up."

She frowned as it dawned on her that they had started dating a few months ago. "So is that why you asked me out?"

He looked into her questioning eyes and gave a crooked smile as he admitted, "Yeah. I figured out you were the one woman I'd met that was immune to what Sasuke bastard calls the Uchiha Curse."

Several thoughts hit her at once when she heard that, such as she was starting to feel Naruto had only asked her out because Sasuke couldn't get her, and she never even remembered him trying to date her. The other thought was as she looked in Itachi's direction and a blush crossed her face...she knew she was far from immune to him.

Still, she knew she could never tell him the truth, her feelings for Itachi tonight would just have to be one of those secrets that married people kept from each other.

Since she was a very poor liar, she could only give him a weak smile as she said, "Yes, I guess I am."

Naruto smiled brightly at her and whispered near her ear, "You're awful pretty too."

Hinata smiled and felt herself relaxing, it was rare that Naruto ever complimented her. She allowed herself to bask under his intense sunlight for a few moments as she hoped what had happened tonight, would all be in the past tomorrow.

His blue eyes were soft as he moved closer and kissed the side of her face and then his mouth slid toward her ear. Her eyes looked around uncomfortably and saw disapproval clearly written on some of her family members faces at the table nearest to them.

She was about to remind him they were in public when her father came up behind them and cleared his throat. "Hinata, your friend Shino is here, and he claims you hired him to be a dee jay tonight," he said sternly with a downturned mouth as if the words were beneath him to utter.

Hinata was about to thank her father when Naruto pumped his fist enthusiastically and said in a loud voice, "Shino's here, al-right! Now we can get this lame-ass party started. Come on, Hinata," he said as he began dragging her across the room. Within a few minutes loud music was blasting and people were starting to fill up the dance floor.

Feeling her father's hard disapproving eyes on her because of the type of music that was being played. Hinata decided to ignore him and do something her fiancé wanted to do, and she went out on the dance floor with him and tried to have fun.

* * *

The brothers sat at a table alone and they were completely unaware of the striking impression they made with their jackets off and their bow-ties loosened around their necks. They had many women around the room trying to get their attention and several of them had already asked them to dance, but they had turned them down.

As he took a sip of his drink, Sasuke searched his brother's face discreetly and his eyes darkened with worry at what he saw. Itachi appeared to be deep in thought to the point he was completely disconnected from the room. And he could tell by the bleak, almost listless look in eyes he wasn't calculating some physics problem. It was something else. It made his suspicions earlier seem to be very valid to him. He had a pretty fair idea of who it was that had caught his brother's eye, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure.

His eyes narrowed when he saw Itachi toss one glass of champagne down and then signal to the waiter he wanted another. Within a few minutes another one was brought, and he downed that one too, and then quickly ordered another.

Sasuke breathed out harshly as he figured he probably should try to talk to him. Leaning forward he said, "Your piano music was unusual tonight Itachi."

Itachi's mouth twisted in bitterness, before he took another long drink, but other than that he pointedly ignored his brothers prodding.

Getting frustrated Sasuke asked point blank. "Who is she?"

Itachi frowned and kept his eyes on the glass in his hand as he said in a quiet, hollow voice, "It doesn't matter - I'm not going to see her again after tonight."

Sasuke's brows furrowed as he considered who it might be and there was only one conclusion that was logical to him. It had to be someone who was unavailable at the party and there was only one person who was coming to his mind.

_Fuck_, he thought as he shook his head in disbelief as he considered all of the problems associated with this situation. Around him he heard the music change to a slow song and saw people were heading out to the dance floor.

Itachi slammed down the rest of his drink and was just standing up to leave and go home when Sakura and Ino sauntered up to their table.

"Come dance with me, Itachi," Sakura said as she locked her arm around his tightly, not giving him a chance to escape.

He looked at her with firm eyes, "One dance, and then I have to go."

An ecstatic and slightly surprised grin lit her face. "Okay, great," she said as she felt like doing cartwheels in her mind. Because she figured if she couldn't have Sasuke, then Itachi would be number two on her list. Plus, after his performance earlier, every woman in the place had her eye on him.

_Score!_

Sasuke watched his brother go with worried eyes as he considered all of the alcohol he had consumed, Itachi didn't look drunk, but he knew he could have eluded Sakura if he had really wanted to. He was clearly not acting normal.

Wanting to keep an eye on him he stood up and took Ino's hand and said, "Come on, I will dance once with you."

Ino smiled like she had just won the lottery as she followed him onto the dance floor.

* * *

Hinata was dancing a slow dance with Naruto and she was laughingly trying to get him to slow his movements down. _He always has so much energy all of the time,_ she thought with a somewhat maternal smile on her face. Her smile died when she glanced over Naruto's shoulder and saw Itachi was dancing with Sakura directly behind them and he was watching her...intently.

She began to shiver inside as she slowly lifted her eyes to his. The impact of seeing him that close to her made her strangely yearn for him so much it nearly made her sob. Especially since, she could tell by the way he was watching her... he was telling her goodbye. His eyes caressed her face in a lingering manner as if he was memorizing it.

Her eyes gazed over his face as though trying to sear it into her memory. She knew she would never forget him or this night, he would always be a special memory to her.

Suddenly Naruto stopped dancing as the music changed. Reluctantly she took her eyes off of Itachi as she saw Sakura turn and notice Naruto and put her hand on his arm. "Hinata, do you mind if I dance with him next. Itachi has to go now."

Almost numbly, she nodded and gave her friend a half smile. "Sure, I don't mind," she said and she started walking off the dance floor, she had nearly reached the edge of it when a hand touched her arm. Turning around her breath caught in her throat when she saw it was Itachi.

"Dance with me Hinata," he asked with his hand still curved around her elbow.

Hinata nodded slowly and just like the ebb and flow of the tides in the ocean she stepped into his arms naturally, and was surprised at how perfectly she fit there.

**Author's Note:** I am shocked by the speed that I am writing this story. The plot is very straight forward, almost cliché (love at first sight) but I think it is going to be a lot of fun to flesh it all out. Please leave me comments, it will make me really happy. Hugs.

Thanks so much to: Fanofthisfiction, Dani Stark, .xXJas,Reyxx, and xXYour DoomXx. I appreciate your comments very much.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

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**Special thanks to: **Dani Stark, Solvdrage, Fujisan, xXYour DoomXx, Fierian Ra, fanofthisfiction, Athena SFM and Guests. I appreciated your sometimes funny and thoughtful reviews very much. You guys are awesome!

**AN:** No music this time, if anyone has a good theme song for this chapter let me know.

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The edge of the dance floor where they were standing was nearly dark, and luckily for them, relatively free of other dancers. The only light over them was the fluttering specks of soft colors that spilled from the sparkling disco ball in the center of the massive dance floor. His face was almost completely hidden in shadows as she stepped into his arms.

Soft music flowed around them, and strangely any reservations she may have had about dancing with him began to disappear. She curved her hands around his shoulders slowly, and the feel of his hands resting warmly around her waist as they began to dance felt …almost as if they belonged there.

Thinking of the way his long fingers had stroked the keys on the piano so tenderly, and with so much mastery caused a blush to surge into her cheeks and made her feel a little shy. It was only the fact that she had some things she wanted to say to him in a short period of time forced her to lift her face and meet his dark gaze.

As Itachi looked down at her, his face appeared to be solemnly tender. His fingers tightened a fraction around her waist and he almost unknowingly pulled her a little closer to him. Against his better judgment, due to their surroundings and circumstances, he leaned his head toward hers until his long bangs were only millimeters away from touching the delicately scented hair that framed her face.

She swallowed nervously at his nearness, and felt her cheeks warm up as she confessed in a slightly rough, and heart-felt voice, "I loved your piano…it moved me." A bittersweet, half smile touched her lips and her eyes became soft, almost dreamlike. "I've never heard Debussy played…so beautifully, or with so much…emotion."

Under her hands she felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax some, and as she searched his eyes closely she could tell by the way they softened a little he was pleased by her reaction.

"I played it only for you," he said quietly and a ghost of a smile touched his mouth while his eyes caressed the delicate planes of her face.

"I know," Hinata said, the gently knowing look on her face letting him know she was aware of that fact all along. Unable to stop it, a soft answering smile spread over her lips.

For the next couple of stolen minutes the outside world disappeared and there was only the two of them as their eyes held on to one another's tightly while they continued to sway in perfect time to the music.

* * *

About ten feet away from the couple Sasuke released a long-suffering breath as he irritably pushed Ino's hands up so they clasped around his waist, and not around his butt. He rolled his eyes darkly, annoyed by the way she was draped all over him with her head resting so comfortably against his chest, and there wasn't an inch of space between them as they sort of swayed to the music.

He had known when he decided to dance a second time with her; this would be the end result. As he looked at the blissful smile on the blonde's face, he knew he was going to have a hell of a time getting her to back off of him now, but he had no choice as he watched his brother's almost painfully intimate dance with Hinata. He felt like he needed to watch out for his brother.

If he had any doubts before about his brother's feelings for her, they were completely obliterated as he watched the unusually tender way Itachi gazed and held her as he danced with her. His older brother seemed oddly human, and not Itachi-like, for once, in a way he had never seen from him before.

A glint of compassion touched sasuke's black eyes before he frowned warily around the room and especially in Naruto's direction to see if anyone else was observing what was going on with the two of them.

He breathed out in relief when he saw his blonde-haired friend chuckle good-naturedly at something Sakura said to him with a scowling look on her face.

His concerned dark eyes went back toward his brother and he had a feeling as he looked at the way Hinata was staring back at his older brother, it could only mean trouble for the knucklehead. Naruto better watch his back, if Itachi wasn't going to be noble about it, and take the high road and walk away.

He thought about the large amount of alcohol Itachi had just imbibed, and he couldn't ever remember his workaholic brother ever doing something like that in the past, so he had no idea what to expect in this situation. As he heard the song coming near the end, he hoped his brother would keep his head, and not make this situation more complicated than it already was.

* * *

The sound of the music coming to an end brought the couple back to a painful awareness of their surroundings. Over the past few minutes Itachi had been toying with the idea in his alcohol-soaked brain of taking her through the balcony door and giving into temptation and kissing her before he saw the guilt-stricken and anguished look come over her face as she glanced in Naruto's direction.

A hard and bleak look passed over his eyes as he knew what he had to do.

He breathed out before saying in a quiet, but grave voice, "I will be leaving in a few weeks to go back to America."

Her fingers clenched around his shoulders a little without her even being consciously aware she was doing it, while her throat began to tighten at the thought of never seeing him again. Though she had just met him and spent less than ten minutes alone in his actual company, the feelings she had for him were still painfully real.

She tried to speak and when the lump in her throat wouldn't let her, she nodded. Her eyes telling him she wished it didn't have to be this way.

He put his hand against her cheek and his face moved closer to hers, "I won't try to see you again before I leave."

Her eyes glanced in Naruto's direction and her eyes closed tightly as she nodded in agreement, knowing that it would be for the best, it would be too hard to see him again. "I'm sorry," she whispered achingly.

Around them the music had stopped, and they both knew it was time to say goodbye.

The word wasn't necessary as one last shared look between them said it all before he turned and stiffly walked away. Holding back tears Hinata headed immediately for the balcony and was acutely relieved to see no one was out there.

* * *

Sasuke was more than a little relieved to see Itachi leave the room, and knew right now his brother probably just wanted to be left alone. Stepping back from the still clinging Ino, he was just wondering how to divest himself of her when Sakura came over to them without Naruto, and was sending her friend a series of very pissed off looks.

It only took the two _friends_ a few seconds to launch into a war of epic proportions, especially since Sasuke was the one involved. As he quickly cleared out of their loud vicinity he decided to head out to the balcony to make sure Hinata was alright.

She startled when he came through the door and began quickly rubbing her eyes and composing herself. "Um Sasuke…" she mumbled in a frazzled manner as her mind was racing to come up with a suitable excuse.

"It's alright Hinata, I know everything," he told her with a frustrated sigh. The situation really did suck in his mind.

The tension drained out of her as she looked over at him with eyes so filled with misery, his face softened, and he patted her shoulder a little awkwardly.

Seeing his clumsy attempt at comforting her, made her give him a little watery smile as she realized both brothers were pretty uncomfortable dealing with people, so she took pity on him. "Thank you, Sasuke. I'm alright now," she told him and then she looked over at him with worried eyes.

"I'm not going to tell anyone," he promised her a gruff voice. "This is between the three of you."

Hinata looked out with hollow eyes over the Tokyo skyline. "It's over; we don't plan to see each other again."

She looked so alone and her voice was so sad, Sasuke reached out in an uncomfortable manner and put his arm around her waist. They stood there in raw silence for a few minutes, before Naruto came through the door and joined them on the balcony.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked them, his voice wasn't accusing it was more questioning, but his eyes were definitely perplexed as he eyed his best friend.

Hinata released a quick, harsh breath as she knew this situation could get ugly if she didn't do something fast. She quickly stepped toward him and when Naruto got a good look at her tear-stained face his blue eyes darkened in concern.

"Hinata have you been crying?"

"Yes, I came out here…because...um...I-I have a bad headache," she lied to him for the second time tonight, and realized miserably, that it was becoming a little easier to do.

"Oh…okay," he said slowly as he put his arm around her and began leading her back to the main conference room. "Come on, we'll see if anyone has any medicine with them." Before he opened the door he sent his best friend a small, but troubled glance over his shoulder.

After they had gone, Sasuke shook his head in mock disbelief at how he ended up the middle of this mess. A smirk came over his face as he thought, _I'm not the Uchiha you should be worried about…you knucklehead._

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**Author's Note:** I wrote the second part of this chapter fairly quickly, I hope there aren't too many errors. Anyway, I am pretty excited about the next part of the story, it will shift quite a bit and I will get to flesh out more of their personalities, background, feelings, etc. Anyway, I will try my best to post another chapter within a day or two. Thanks for all of the feedback; it was fun chatting with some of you.

**Naruto Shippuden Episode 337:** (Spoiler-alert) All I have to say it is f-ing awesome. Edo Tensei Itachi owns Kabuto with the Izanami. If you haven't watched the anime series lately, I highly recommend you start from episode 331.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

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Special thanks to: Fierian Ra, aurora0914, Fujisan, Guests, xXYour DoomXx, Dani Stark, Kibachow, Keirii, fanofthisfiction, and BoomBoy. I appreciate the time all of you took to leave me a review; you guys are helping to keep me on track with your questions and comments.

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The late afternoon sun poured cheerfully into the car as they drove down the highway to Naruto's parent's large house out in the countryside.

Hiding her dark-smudged, sleep-deprived eyes behind sunglasses she didn't pay attention to any of the beautiful scenery around her that normally delighted her so much. It all looked drab, painfully ashen gray to her because her guilty conscious would not give her any sense of peace.

Feelings of remorse and shame surrounded her, while the beautiful sound of his piano playing was haunting her every waking moment. She had spent all night after she had returned home from the party reliving every painfully vivid memory of him from the sound of his voice – the way it caressed her when he talked, the warmth of his body as he danced with her, to his dark eyes…_oh god_.

Itachi's eyes when he had looked at her, everything became clear, they had asked her to take her place at his side in the simplest terms. There was nothing complicated about their feelings for each other, she knew exactly how he felt about her, because it was the same for her. When she had first met his eyes, it was as though she had been asleep and he had merely woken her up.

But the situation between them wasn't clear…she wasn't free to go with him.

For a moment she forgot where she was, and her face scrunched up as if in pain, as a sudden wave of longing to see him again crashed hard over her and she covered her miserable face with her hands.

Naruto brows knitted together slightly as looked over at her with concerned eyes, "Does your head still hurt?" He placed his hand over hers and caressed it gently with his thumb.

"Yes, a little," she said slowly, and she wasn't lying too much, it did hurt a little. Reluctantly she turned to her fiancé; she was finding it difficult to meet his eyes, because they were so honest, while hers, she was keeping secrets from him.

And they weren't even married yet.

"Ooh Ramen!" He said excitedly when he noticed one of his favorite stands was still open this late in the day. He had an apartment in the city and only visited his parents place on the weekends.

"Your mother is making dinner, Naruto…" she started to remind him, but her voice faded when she saw him turn the wheel and pull the car into the parking lot.

"I know," he told her after he had parked and was taking off his seat belt. "This is just a snack," he said with a bright grin. "Hey, do you want anything?"

Hinata shook her head in a subdued manner, and chose to wait in the car while he had his snack. As she turned toward the side window a lone plum tree caught her eye, because it was standing starkly alone against the barren, November landscape. It had lost its leaves due the change of the seasons, and it occurred to her almost painfully, that she had changed too.

She wasn't the same person she was twenty four hours ago, she had met Itachi, and Naruto wasn't alone in her heart anymore. Now she just had to figure out a way live with her decision to marry Naruto.

She saw his blonde hair as it came around the car and in his hand he had a cup of tea in a paper cup with the little tag hanging out on a string.

"I got you some tea, Hinata," he told her with a sweet smile and Hinata shoulders sagged when she saw how concerned his eyes were. "This should make you feel better."

"Thank you, Naruto," she said and gave him the first genuine smile of the day. As she took a small, delicate sip of her tea while he started the car, she thought about how she had to try to make this work. She knew she just had to give it time; eventually she would forget Itachi and be able to move on with her life, or at least she hoped she could.

* * *

As soon as she and Naruto came through the front door of the cozy house, his parents enveloped them into a boisterous group-hug to welcome them home. Ever since she had started dating Naruto she adored his parents for their loving acceptance of her into their home, and their lives.

As a family, they were very demonstrative towards each other, and in the beginning, they had shocked her by the way they kept hugging her and their overall playfulness. In her home, proper decorum was the rule, and pretty much all physical contact, except for what was necessary, was discouraged.

Kushina started play-punching her son in the stomach while she laughed at him.

"Mom!" he yelled as he laughed. "Stop!"

Hinata took a long deep breath as she watched them horse around. Sadness and shame touched her eyes when she thought of her behavior yesterday, knowing that at some point while she had danced with Itachi that if he had asked her to, she might have run away with him. Part of her was glad he never did.

Minato's blue eyes watched her, and he frowned slightly in concern before he put his hands gently on her shoulders and asked, "How's my pretty daughter-in-law-to-be doing today?"

His voice and eyes were so kind she felt her lower lip tremble with emotion; he was the father she never had, but always wanted. He would have helped her up when she fell off her bike, while her own father was always too busy with his job; he never made time for her or Hanabi when they were younger.

Minato's eyes were filled with compassion when he saw the dark smudges under her eyes, "You look dead on your feet, you poor thing."

Kushina rushed over to her and scooped her arms around her into a big hug from behind her back, "Of course she is Minato, she's going to be a bride in a few weeks."

Hinata started to laugh as her future mother-in-law began to tickle her on her sides. "Mother…stop," she gasped and then yelped a little as Kushina took her hand and began walking hand in hand with her. "Come along dear, why don't you rest a little in the guest room before the others come over."

Feeling completely undeserving of their concern for her, Hinata felt hot tears begin to burn in the back of her eyes_. I'm sorry mother…I was unfaithful in my heart to your son yesterday._

Kushina's long, red hair floated by her as she opened the door to the comfortably furnished bedroom, the bed looked so welcoming Hinata just wanted to curl up and die in it. After she kicked off her house slippers Hinata slid onto the bed, and was surprised when Kushina plopped down casually on the other side next to her.

The older woman had a warm, but knowing glint in her eyes when she turned on her side and said, "Do you want to tell me why your eyes no longer sparkle when you look at my son, or do I need to guess?"

Still lying on her back, Hinata closed her eyes and stifled a groan at how perceptive Naruto's mom was. She couldn't meet her eyes as she stuttered, "Well…um…" Hinata had no clue what to say to her or how to answer this question.

Kushina began to laugh and her eyes were slightly playful. "You don't have to answer that dear, I was just teasing you…but I was wondering if maybe you are starting to get cold feet, a little bit?"

At the gentleness of the question Hinata had to look her in the eyes and nod and admit part of the truth, "I guess I am…a little."

A kind answering smile curved Naruto's mother's lips, "It's alright, it happens to everyone at some point."

"I'm sorry," Hinata said, somehow feeling like she had let her down.

"Don't be, Hinata. I'm actually glad you are starting to realize my son isn't so perfect. You will need to learn to stand up to him more after you are married."

"Well, I don't know…" Hinata mumbled, unsure how to answer this question too. Standing up to Naruto was a difficult thing for her because he was so nice and energetic, but he also had a more forceful personality than her so she would usually back down.

Kushina's eyes were serious, but still gentle as she looked at her, "Just remember, marriage is a big step and you shouldn't rush it if you don't feel ready."

"How will I know if I am ready?"

Naruto's mom slipped her hand comfortably around hers. "Oh, you'll just know, I think it is different for everyone," she said vaguely, but her eyes were searching and she frowned a little at what she saw. "Start by thinking about _why_ you want to marry my son."

"I want to marry him because I love him," Hinata replied automatically, yet her voice was a trace amount defensive.

Kushina smiled soothingly, "I know you do, dear. I have never doubted that, but perhaps it is time you need to start thinking of _how_ you love him?"

Hinata's eyes were perplexed as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you love him the way a woman loves a man? When I was about to marry Minato, I couldn't wait to be with him. I couldn't hold or kiss him enough – I don't see you acting that way with Naruto," she said honestly.

As though a light bulb flashed in her brain, Hinata's eyes became deeply clouded as she understood what Naruto's mother was saying to her. She had kept her distance from him, and not just because she had promised her father she wouldn't have sex until after she was married.

It was as though all of the bright and exciting things about Naruto that attracted her to him; they also repelled her a little bit too. She had tried to force herself to enjoy all of his touches, and when he kissed her, but she couldn't. Something always held her back.

Kushina looked at her with compassionate eyes as she stood up, she had seen how uncomfortable Hinata was with intimacy with her son, and it had concerned her for a while. "Just think about it, dear, and maybe things will become clearer for you," she said while she slid off of the bed and began heading out of the room to make sure everything was ready for dinner.

"Rest now, I will wake you up after everyone arrives for the party and when dinner is done," her future mother in law told her before shutting the door quietly behind her.

Hinata rolled over on her side and closed eyes that were more troubled than ever and tried to relax. Kushina had given her a lot to think about.

* * *

Dinner with all of the gang was a rowdy and loud event, but Hinata found she was able to enjoy some of it. The only thing that marred the celebration somewhat was the unprovoked hostility that Naruto showed to Sasuke a few times, and the latent, but dark silence that hung between Ino and Sakura as they pointedly ignored each other.

Hinata looked at the two of them and wondered what had caused the breach. She knew the two girlfriends argued a lot, but this was more than just a little tiff between them, something serious was going on. Her eyes slid over to Sasuke, who appeared to be above the fray and was just eating his dinner in an unconcerned manner.

She wanted to talk to him, and ask him how Itachi was doing, but she didn't know how to approach him. A weary sigh escaped her as she thought maybe it was for the best. All of her attention and focus should be on Naruto, and getting ready for their married life together.

After Minato toasted the young couple and they all raised a glass in their honor, Hinata looked into Naruto's blue eyes and vowed to try harder to be a good wife to him. And a little later when he maneuvered her into his room just before it was time to leave, she kissed him back with so much passion and enthusiasm he looked at her with dazed and shocked eyes, "Hinata, what was that for?"

"I just felt like doing it," she told him with a small smile as she held back an apology for the way she had been treating him.

His hands slipped around her waist and his eyes were warm and she could feel his soft breath against her temple as he whispered, "Do you want to go back to my place tonight?"

She froze under his hands, and shook her head warily. "Um…no, I can't Naruto," she told him and her eyes pleaded with him to be patient with her.

His face relaxed as he teased her good-naturedly, "I had to ask, but I understand why you want to wait until after we're married."

"Sorry, I promised my father," she told him firmly with a hint of an apology in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it, we only have to wait three more weeks," he told her with a happy grin as he took her hand and began pulling her out the door with him. As she followed him down the hallway she tried not think about the sense of stifling depression his words were causing her.

When they reached the foyer area to get their coats on, Sakura came up to Naruto and asked, "Can I get a ride home with you, I don't want to ride with _someone_ in Choji's car." Her eyes sent a dark glare in Ino's direction.

Naruto shook his head, "Sorry, I can't. I have to take Hinata home."

Sasuke stepped forward smoothly, "I can take her, I'm going in her direction anyway." His eyes shot his friend a mocking challenge.

Naruto immediately bristled and glared at him, "There's no fucking way I am letting you take Hinata home, you bastard."

Kushina stepped in between them, and her eyes were a little scary as she rounded on her son. "Watch your language, and you WILL take Sakura home. Her house is on your way home - STOP being an IDIOT."

"Fine," he said glumly and he looked at Hinata with eyes that searched her face closely. "I will call you tomorrow."

"Okay," she told him as she turned to follow Sasuke to his car. Once settled in his shiny black BMW she turned puzzled eyes on him and asked hesitantly, "Um…Sasuke, are you trying to make him jealous?"

He let out a short, cynical laugh. "I don't have to try, I do it by just existing." His eyes smiled darkly at her.

Hinata had to smile a little, because he did have a point, but she still kept her eyes firmly on him.

"Alright," he conceded with a shrug. "I guess I am… a little."

"Why?"

An uncomfortable scowl came over his face before he shifted the gear into drive before mumbling, "I think he takes you for granted." His eyes looked straight ahead at the road, and he purposely didn't tell her his other reason for doing it, he would keep that information to himself.

Hinata's eyes softened as she looked at him, as if she just realized that Sasuke, in his own way, had a sweet side to him. "Thanks, but I wish you wouldn't. I already feel guilty enough as it is."

"I can tell," he said as he glanced at her. He thought she looked completely spent and emotionally exhausted, like she was on the edge of cracking, but was trying her best to make things work out.

Hinata turned her eyes straight ahead out the front window as they started filling with emotional tears, now that she didn't have to hide from everyone, her body and spirit felt deflated. They drove in silence for quite a while before she couldn't stop herself from asking in a small, but sad voice, "How is he doing, Sasuke?"

"About as good as you are," he told her as he sent a sarcastic glance in her direction.

His mouth became a little grim as he thought of how he had stopped by his brother's apartment and found Itachi, who rarely ever drinks, had finished off an entire bottle of sake, and it was lying carelessly dumped on the floor in front of him while he was passed out on the couch. He had stubble on his face, and was still wearing the clothes from the night of the party.

He wanted to push her to dump, that dumb-ass Naruto, and go for his brother, but one look her despondent face told him now was not the time, she wasn't ready to make that big of a decision right now. They drove the rest of the way to her house in silence as he left her alone with her thoughts.

**Author's Note: **I plan to finish this story up by the end of the month, so expect updates pretty regularly from me. Thanks for reading and I appreciate all of the reviews, follows and favorites. Big hugs.


	7. Chapter 7

**A Simple Affair**

**Chapter 7**

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**AN: **A huge thank you to: Athena SFM, Guests, Fierian Ra, Kibachow, xXYour DoomXx, Dani Stark, ProjXPsyClone, Chibi beary, fanofthisfiction and aurora0914. This quick update is for all of you, thanks.

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A few days later when Sasuke stopped by his brother's apartment in the morning, he saw all was in order, it was conspicuously tidy again and his aloof brother, as usual was at his desk with huge books laying open all around him…working in quiet solitude.

Sasuke breathed out in grateful relief as he set his phone and keys down on the kitchen table. He poked around the eerily quiet place for a few minutes and waited for him to speak or at least acknowledge his presence, but Itachi continued to work, the only sign he was alive was his pen that continually scribbled on the paper in front of him.

A tight line began to form around Sasuke's mouth as he headed into the kitchen to see if there were any signs that he had eaten lately. When he opened the fridge he saw it was starkly empty, except for a few unopened water bottles and some apple juice. The trash container was empty, and there were no signs he had ordered take-out lately.

"When was the last time you had anything to eat, Itachi?" Sasuke yelled out to him from behind the fridge door.

Two minutes ticked by with no response, the only sound in the apartment was his endless scratching by his pen of a formula on the paper in front of him.

"Fuck," Sasuke breathed out under his breath. _Not good, _he thought and he could feel his genius brother isolating himself. An uneasy feeling began to form in the pit of his stomach. He needed to think, so he decided to head to the store to buy Itachi some food.

It was common knowledge in their family that Itachi would get so caught up in his work, so focused on what he was doing, he would forget to eat or sleep; he had been that way as long as Sasuke could remember. He hoped that was the problem that was going on with his brother now.

When he came back with a couple of bags full of groceries, a quick glance toward his brother's desk showed he was still there. It didn't look as if he had moved a bit. Sasuke sighed despondently when he saw the deeply intense stillness about his brother as he worked.

His onyx eyes were troubled as he began to put the food efficiently away in the barren cupboards and nearly empty fridge.

* * *

Tugging her demure grey business skirt into place, she took one last reluctant glance in the mirror, and knew no amount of concealer or foundation was going to cover-up the dark circles under her eyes. They were becoming entrenched into her pallid skin like muddy tire tracks on a clean driveway.

But she was too exhausted at this point to care, and one look at her schedule showed it was jam packed today. First she had to go to work and there were no less than three meetings scheduled for this afternoon.

Hanabi trudged wearily into the kitchen wearing her high school uniform while her long black hair glistened and hung ramrod straight down her back. She yawned as she was never a morning person. A dark scowl came over her pretty face as she raked her eyes over her big sister who was calmly buttering a piece of toast next to the kitchen counter.

"You look like hell," she observed with an extremely direct and penetrating look. "You look even worse than you did yesterday."

"Hanabi, are you wearing make-up?" Hinata countered patiently, ignoring her sister's comments, because she had heard similar ones for the past few days. "You know father doesn't approve of it."

"Don't give me that bullshit, when was the last time you even slept?" Hanabi rounded on her with eyes full of concern. Her sister looked like a miserable shell of her normal self and she wanted to know why.

_I don't know, maybe four days ago_, Hinata thought tiredly.

"I'm fine," she stated reassuringly and gave her worried little sister a sweet smile. "I'll make sure I get to bed tonight extra early," she promised as she sat down at the table and began nibbling on her breakfast.

"You better," Hanabi muttered direly under her breath before picking up her backpack, and hauling herself posthaste out the back door before her father caught her wearing make-up to school.

Hinata's carefully composed demeanor dismantled when she noticed she was all alone again, and she placed her hand over her face and braced her forehead wearily against it for a few blessed moments. When she heard her father's footsteps sound outside the door, she reluctantly sat up straight and pulled her phone out and began purposefully looking over her schedule.

"Good morning, Hinata," her father greeted her with a pleasant smile.

Hinata's brow formed a puzzled dent as she looked at him and nodded properly, "Good morning, Father." Her eyes swept over him warily and noticed he appeared to abnormally cheerful for some reason.

But she didn't have time to think about it anymore, because he had picked up his briefcase and was heading out the back door. Quickly gathering her things, she followed him out the door. She was too worn out to drive into the city today, so she had asked her father's driver if she could get a ride with them.

An hour later as she sat behind her desk at work as a human relations manager at a business downtown, and was putting her things away, she heard her phone alert her she had a text. A quick glance at it told her it was from Sasuke. When she opened it, she nearly dropped it on the floor when she saw he had sent her Itachi's phone number.

* * *

Sasuke didn't know what to expect when he set the plate of fresh, steaming stir-fried chicken, vegetables and rice on the table along with a drink for his brother, and he was surprised when Itachi suddenly stood up, stretched out his arms in a languid manner, and then with his normally graceful strides he joined him over at the table.

"Thank you, Sasuke," he said with perfect equanimity, before he started to steadily eat the food on his plate.

His younger brother stared at him as if he had grown two heads. "What the hell were you working on?" He felt like laughing as his sense of relief was nearly palpable, now that he saw Itachi was doing fine.

As Sasuke started to eat he thought how he didn't want his brother to end up _there_ again.

When Itachi was thirteen, their elder cousin and his best friend, Shisui, had died in a car accident and he had taken the loss so badly, it drove him into a place of fierce isolation into a project that had been almost impossible to draw him out of. For a few months his family had struggled desperately to reach him through the impenetrable wall of painful concentration he had built around himself, without success.

Until one day, on his own, Itachi just snapped out of it, it was either that or he had finished what he was working on. It happened so long ago Sasuke couldn't remember...he just knew Itachi didn't love many people in his life; he was serenely self-sufficient to the point that most people in the world just didn't exist to him. So when he did lose one of his precious people…it was almost unbearably painful for him.

And to this day, Itachi has never spoken about his cousin or even his name once, and if someone mentions Shisui's name he almost always leaves the room.

Sasuke glanced over at his brother who had just finished his food and was washing it down with a long drink of his tea. As his eyes examined him he noticed the lines under his brothers eyes were becoming more pronounced then they were normally were.

"When was the last time you slept?" He asked him and he tried to keep his voice casual.

Itachi rubbed his hand over his eyes tiredly, "I don't know, probably Sunday."

Sasuke looked at him with a pained exasperation on his face because today was Wednesday and Itachi hadn't slept on Sunday, he had passed out. He gave his brother a hard look and asked, "Is this because of Hinata?"

Inwardly, Itachi flinched at the mention of her name as though it was a caustic wound. He had been trying to forget her, first with alcohol, then with work, but none of it was helping, not even a little.

Sasuke felt his heart sink when he saw the clear signs that her name was now off limits. There was an intense stillness over his brother and cold desolation in his brother's eyes that was almost too painful to see.

"Why don't you just go after her – she isn't married to him yet," his brother intrepidly snapped, knowing Itachi had already warned him to back off.

For a moment Itachi went rigid and a muscle leaped near his jawline before he stood up and with tightly controlled movements he began clearing his dishes from the table and carried them into the kitchen.

As he was heading toward his bathroom to take a shower he told his brother in a semblance of his normally cool voice, "I will see you at our parent's house later this evening."

Sasuke gave his brother a darkly frustrated glare before he quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper and left it where his brother would find it; grabbed his keys and left.

A while later after a long hot shower, Itachi emerged wearing long pants with a towel around his neck. His eyes happened to glance on the table and he saw on a piece of paper in large letters Sasuke had written down her name and phone number on it.

Slowly he reached out and crumpled it in his fingers - she had made her choice already, and he had to live with it. As he passed by his desk, he tossed it in the trash can.

**Author's Note:** Just a quick update and I can't wait to get the next two chapters out. Thanks so much for all the feedback, it really blessed me.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Simple Affair**

**Chapter 8**

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**A big thank you and hugs to: **Aurora0914, XxJasmineReyxX, CallMeSenseiKuchiki, xXYour DoomXx, Guests, Athena SFM, ProjXPsyClone, Fierian Ra, fanofthisfiction, Dani Stark, and heza-chan24.

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Sitting near the door at a quaint café downtown, Itachi's long bangs fluttered around his outwardly serene face from the breeze as the door opened allowing some customers through it. Behind him, he unconsciously heard it close with a loud clank. He was deep in thought, and was completely oblivious that he was the adoring object of many sets of eyes in the place.

His eyes shifted to his cell phone thinking about the call he had received this morning from his employer in America. An unexpected donor had granted a rather large gift to the university he worked at that was going toward the scientific research he was currently working on, and of course there was a catch. In order to receive the money, they needed him to play the piano at a charity benefit next week in Tokyo, and it wasn't a solo piece, but a duet with a flutist from another university.

When he explained to his employer he had a presentation at a conference to prepare for and couldn't do it, he was told they had already found someone else to give it in his place.

It didn't take him very long to figure out who was behind all of this. Arranging all of the pieces together in this elaborate puzzle would be an easy thing to do for the president of a major university like Hiashi Hyuuga.

Wanting to get to the bottom of what he was plotting, he arranged to meet him for lunch.

He heard the door open and Hinata's father greeted him with a refined and slightly wary smile on his face, "Good afternoon, Itachi-san."

"Hyuuga-san," Itachi returned politely and motioned to the seat across from him at the table.

While the older man settled himself into his seat, Itachi looked at the selections of music Hiashi had brought along with him, and he remembered vaguely playing a couple of them before. On top of the stack of sheet music was, Debussy, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, the thought of playing that with her on flute intrigued him.

Hiashi's eyes were direct as he began, "I apologize for only giving you only a week to prepare for this event, but I figured for someone with your talent this piece should not prove to be all that difficult."

Itachi looked back at him with equally direct eyes and there was tightening about his mouth showing the older man he wasn't fooling him a bit. "I am not concerned about learning the material, what concerns me is the lengths you are resorting to, to interfere with your daughter's engagement."

A guilty light passed over Hinata's father as he was forced to admit, "I see you have figured out I am not too fond of my daughter's choice of bridegrooms."

Itachi's dark eyes were firm and disapproving as he stared back at him.

Hiashi breathed out and there was a sad almost deflated look in his haughty eyes. "You're right, Itachi-san," he admitted quietly. "I don't want Hinata to marry him; I don't think they fit well together. When I watch the two of them together I see more friendship between them, than I do actual love."

"What does this have to do with me?" Itachi asked almost cutting him off rudely, because the last thing he wanted to hear was about Hinata's relationship with that blonde knucklehead.

A knowing glint passed over Hiashi's eyes as a slight smile touched his mouth seeing the younger man's display of jealousy. "For several reasons Itachi-san. The first is – I heard and watched you play piano to her…that was a very emotional Debussy you played."

Though not even a hint of it showed, Itachi felt a small twinge of embarrassment pass over him at someone recognizing the rather over the top declaration of love he had sent to Hinata through his piano playing.

The older man continued with thoughtful, but still somewhat serious eyes, "And I saw the way she looked at you…I think my daughter is in love with you."

Itachi nodded slowly and a little reluctantly in confirmation. "She ended it before anything could begin between us, Hyuuga-san. I told her I was going back to America in a few weeks, and she didn't try to stop me…then she told me goodbye."

Hiashi absorbed this information in a grave manner, before gazing back steadily at him. "I am not surprised, Itachi-san, because my daughter is a very honorable person, and she is far too kind and stubborn for her own good. She has given him her word, and she will not break it."

A small flash of pain crossed Itachi's eyes as he remembered the guilty and anguished look on her face as she had looked at her fiancé while they had danced. The look on her face had been the reason he had walked away from her in the first place. "She made her decision clear to me, and I've decided to let her go on with her life, and I wish her happiness in the future."

Hiashi released a ragged sigh and there was raw worry in his eyes as he said, "She is miserable, I don't think she has slept at all since the engagement party and she walks around the house at night like a ghost. Even her selfish teenaged sister is worried about her."

The two men stared at each other for a taut moment after Hiashi's quiet, but emotional outburst, before the waitress came up, and broke the tension by asking for their order. She blushed when she looked at Itachi.

Itachi ordered some green tea and a bento box for lunch while Hinata's father composed himself and perused the menu. And while Hiashi gave the waitress his order, he thought over the situation and realized he knew exactly what Hinata was going through; he was also finding sleep very difficult. There was an almost raw, aching loneliness in him that nothing seemed to alleviate. And he figured in her case it was probably worse because of the guilt she felt.

Last night, he had almost called her, because his brother had been right, she isn't married to him yet. Why shouldn't they get to know each other before making a decision that will affect the rest of their lives? Sasuke's unusual interference in the situation also had him wondering if he knew something about Naruto that was concerning him.

He looked over at Hinata's father and he could see hiding under the politely expectant mask on his refined face was the worried desperation of a loving father.

He breathed out, "I'll do it."

A heartily relieved smile slid over the older man's face before he added semi-seriously, "If she chooses that blonde idiot over you - after getting a chance to know you better; then I will accept her decision and welcome him to the family." However the pointed look he then gave him told him he didn't think his daughter was foolish enough to do such a thing.

Itachi nodded politely accepting his approval, before the waitress interrupted them by placing their food on the table. The rest of the meal went by pleasantly as they found they had a lot in common. Hiashi had once been a science major and still followed the field closely even though he was now an administrator.

He also shared one other thing with Itachi…

He told him how he had met Hinata's mother in a similar way, he had met her in college at a party, and by the time they had finished dancing, he had asked her to marry him.

* * *

Exhaustion was beginning to overtake her as she trudged slowly up the stairs to the Music Department's practice rooms wing for the piano at her father's University. She had tried to tell him with the wedding and all of the things she needed to take care of she didn't have time to perform in a charity event. But her father had tempted her by giving her the opportunity to perform a song by Debussy that she had practiced on the flute for months during her last year of college, but never got to perform it. Her pianist had come down ill with the flu the night of the recital, and there wasn't enough time to find someone else, so she never got a chance to perform it live in front of an audience.

Since most of the major wedding preparations were already completed, she really didn't have much more to do for it, and this was something she wanted to do pretty badly…so she gave in. This event would also help keep her mind off a certain someone.

Walking down the practice area hallway, her eyes looked at the classroom number she had written down and she saw the one her father had reserved for her was at the very end.

She didn't have her flute with her, because of her father's short notice, but at least she could meet and discuss the event with the pianist today. When she opened the door, and entered the room, she turned and put her purse down on a chair and glanced partially over at the person who was at the back of the room.

She had expected him to turn and greet her, but he appeared to be in his own world as he was busy writing down in an intensely rapid fashion, from what she could tell, was an astronomically advanced physics equation. Hinata shuddered delicately as she was glad she never had to take physics at the university level. As she waited politely for him to finish, her eyes were almost unwillingly drawn the man's absolutely delicious backside and something about the steady, graceful way his body moved as he wrote on the board reminded her of…Itachi.

Her eyes shot up to his black long hair and her heart began to race wildly. A sob rose up in her chest as she grabbed her phone and slipped out the door. Standing outside the room in the hallway she called her father.

While she waited for him to answer she took a deep cleansing breath to compose herself. To say she was upset was an understatement, she didn't know how her father had found out about Itachi, but this was all too much of a coincidence for him not to know.

"Hello," she heard her father's voice come through the receiver.

"What are you trying to do, Father?" She asked as her voice cracked with emotion.

"Hinata," he said in a calmly rational voice. "I didn't have time to find someone else…and Itachi is a genius, so he can learn any piece of music in a short period of time. It was a necessity to ask him."

She leaned back against the hallway as she said quietly, "You know about him don't you?"

Hiashi sighed, "Yes, I saw the way you watched him as he played the piano, and I know you have feelings for him."

"I am going to marry Naruto," she reminded him in a quietly firm voice that trembled a little. "I know you don't like him Father, but I have made up my mind." She had gained a tiny measure of peace over her guilty conscience the past few days and she didn't want to give it up.

"Then why can't you sleep at night?"

"I don't know," she breathed out softly and her voice caught. There were just some things that were too personal to talk to her father about, and this was one of them.

"Hinata, I would like for you to do this song, because it was your mother's favorite, and she performed it in a recital once when she was in college. And besides, you weren't the only one who was disappointed you couldn't perform it at your last recital; I wanted to see it too. This way I will be able to," Hiashi pointed out gently with just a hint of wheedling in his voice, knowing anything about her mother was an Achilles heel to her.

"Well…" she said weakening, part of her hated disobeying her father. Her eyes were firm and a little bit wary he was trying to manipulate her. "What about Naruto, this doesn't seem fair to him?"

"Hinata, if you _love_ Naruto as much as you say you do, performing something on stage with Itachi should not be a problem for you," he reminded her succinctly and knew there was no way she could argue with that point.

She closed her eyes slowly as she had to admit her father was right.

"Okay, I will do it," she told him and hung up the phone.

As she stood there knowing she had to go talk to Itachi, her insides literally began to shake with nerves. A small and somewhat bitter laugh escaped her as she realized she knew so little about the man inside that she barely even recognized him when she saw him from behind earlier.

Yet, he affected her this much!

How was she going to be able to be around him for all the time necessary to learn how to play the song together, and not fall even further in love with him?

Her lips became almost grim as she realized her father was right, and so was Kushina. Marriage was a big step, and if she truly loved Naruto like she thought she did; then she should be able to spend time with _him _without any problems.

Steeling herself mentally, Hinata prepared herself to face him and opened the door. When she went inside her eyes were firmly rooted to the floor as they travelled up from his shoes, slowly on up over all of him as he sat calmly in front of the piano and her jaw almost dropped. Since she had met him, she had never seen all of him in good light, this close up, and she realized he was even more flawless than she remembered.

It was a peculiar feeling to her and it was unsettling, because she was realizing whenever she thought of him lately, she never thought of him in terms of his looks, which were amazing - to her he was just Itachi. It was more about the way he made her feel when he looked at her.

And it was even more dangerous to her peace of mind. It was one of the things that was keeping her up at night.

"Hello Hinata," Itachi said and his beautifully modulated voice wrapped warmly around her just like his music did.

_Be strong Hinata_, she reminded herself fiercely. She lifted her eyes slowly toward his and as she met them she felt the world around them become a place that only belonged to the two of them. His lips curved in a small smile that was so serenely beautiful a strong sense of yearning for him began to take over her, drawing her to him. Unconsciously she took a step toward him.

A stray thought of self-preservation ran through her mind, and she was just able to stop herself from going into his arms by looking at the ground.

"Have you eaten dinner yet?" He asked her quietly as though the last few seconds never happened.

Hinata turned and bent over to pick up purse. "No, I haven't," she answered and was happy when her voice sounded almost calm, she just wished her heart would stop racing.

Itachi's eyes roamed hungrily over her face as she looked away from him, he realized he still felt the same as he did the first time he saw her. As a man of science he had tried in every way possible to rationally disprove what was happening between them. It wasn't logical, it was even ridiculous to have this strong of feelings for someone he just met, but he had no way to disprove it.

And since he couldn't disprove it, he decided to put his considerable mind to making her see that she belonged with a man she has only just met, rather than someone she has known and loved for several years.

**Author's Note:** Okay, I hope I was able to answer some questions regarding if they had a secret past or not. They don't, it is just a case of very strong (and okay, I admit it, cliché) love at first sight. So, thanks for your patience during the last few chapters as I laid the ground work for the reasons behind her resistance to him. The next few chapters should be fun and maybe a little angsty. Thanks for all of the great comments and thoughts, they are helping me to keep this story on track.


	9. Chapter 9

**A Simple Affair**

**Chapter 9**

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**Special thanks to: reneelg1963, Fierian Ra, Dani Stark, fanofthisfiction, Guests, evilbananalol, xXYour DoomXx, Fujisan, aurora0914, kibachow, Lost-puppyEYES, heza-chan24. Your comments really helped me a lot as I worked on this chapter, please continue to share your thoughts with me. Hugs!**

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Not long after they climbed into the red BMW his mother had loaned him while he was staying in Japan, he glanced over and saw she was leaning against the door and was fast asleep. Soft stands of her shiny dark hair had fallen out of the loose chignon at the back of her head and was resting against her cheek.

His touch was gentle as he pushed the hair back from her face so he could see it better. A twinge of conscience came over him as he noticed clearly the dark smudges under her eyes and he knew he was to a large degree responsible for them.

As his fingers caressed the sensitive place under her eyes while driving, he began to think about the reasons why the two of them weren't able to sleep at night. In his case, and he couldn't vouch for her reason with certainty, but he assumed it was similar to his, was the incredible longing he had to have her next to him. Thinking about it in logical terms, it was almost as if their bodies and hearts had been far more honest in accepting their feelings for each other than their minds were. Both of them had obviously struggled and fought hard against wrapping their minds around it.

In the past he had always been decidedly mocking of the term lovesick and considered people who claimed to be afflicted with it, to be fools. But now after going through something like he had over the past few days, he knew it was a real and painful state of being. The scientist within him was very uncomfortable with this situation.

Over the past few days he had time to think, and at first he tried to rationalize it as infatuation or attraction, but he had some experience with attraction in the past and he never felt the need to share any part of his life with that person other than his body for a short time.

With Hinata, he knew it was love he felt for her. Her happiness and well-being meant far more to him, than his own. When he had stepped out of her life, he thought that would be the best thing he could do for her, but after talking with her father and seeing her now, he knew he couldn't give up on the two of them.

As his eyes glanced over at her sleeping form he felt a little disappointed at not being able to talk to her, but the scientific observer in him was greatly encouraged by her level of comfort around him to be able sleep in his presence. It showed him instinctively she was able to trust him enough to lower her guard completely.

Looking up ahead in the distance he saw the little Italian restaurant he had been planning to take her to, and with a sudden decision he turned the car around and began driving back towards his apartment. He would be taking a large risk in what he was going to do, but he didn't have a lot of time on his side for patience. He had picked up her intentions clearly; the way she had avoided making eye contact with him showed him she was obviously planning to keep a safe distance from him during this week.

He knew he was severely lacking in people skills, and he certainly couldn't ask his mother's advice on how to go about wooing her, so he decided to trust his innate ability to find out about the state of her emotions on a scientific and natural level.

* * *

She had been dreaming about her mother, and for once the deep, searing pain of her loss was strangely absent, she could only feel a marvelous sense of peace. They were in the garden together and her mother was playing her flute. It was Mozart, one of her favorites. The sun was shining and young Hinata had her baby sister Hanabi on her lap and for once she wasn't fussing…

With that beloved past scene still floating in her brain she began to surface from a deep slumber, and an odd, unfamiliar sensation began to come over her. The sheets against her skin didn't feel or smell the same as her bed at home, and she was still wearing the work clothes she had on earlier. Her mind automatically began to think she had finally succumbed to exhaustion, and ended up crashing in one of the guest rooms at home.

Then her mind registered the sound of even breathing coming from beside her, and when she turned to investigate she felt the warmth of his t-shirt covered back close to her arm and saw his long dark hair in the faint moon light in the room.

Her chest began to ache before she flung herself against him with a strangled cry and clasped him tightly to her, burying her face in the slight hollow of his back. She had missed him desperately for days, and in the middle of the night her guilty conscious seemed far away to her. For once her body and heart dictated her actions.

Covering her hand that was still wrapped tightly around his stomach with his own, he felt a lump of relieved emotion swell within him. He had the answer he wanted from her… he was the one she loved and desired the most.

His dark eyes closed almost in sweet pain as he felt her slim curves against his back. Being together like this with her was like playing with fire, if he turned around and faced her he knew the two of them wouldn't be able to hold back. The air was emotionally and vibrantly charged around them.

Reluctantly, for several reasons, one of them was the fact that her father knew she was over at his place tonight from the text he sent him, he gently squeezed her hand and said calmly, "Go to sleep Hinata, we'll talk in the morning."

Momentary remorse flooded through her for her lack of self-control, and she was thankful for his restraint. Still, she couldn't help but love where she was at as her face snuggled against his warm back and she breathed in the delicious smell of his long hair. Gradually her body began to relax as well as the near death grip she had clamped around his mid-section began to loosen.

With him next to her, she knew she would absolutely be able to sleep. A few moments later she finally began to doze off and a gentle slumber overtook her once again.

* * *

The lukewarm November sun glanced off the chilly windowpane, sending small patches of light into the room waking her up from the best sleep she has had in days. She glanced over at him still resting beside her, his long; shoulder length hair was curved against his face, making him appear younger than he was.

Her eyes roamed tenderly over the intriguingly sensitive planes of his flawless face as she realized how honest her reactions had been to him last night. She had been in terrible denial for the past few days, all because of the way she had met him.

The intensity of her feelings for him had frightened her to the point she wasn't able to accept them, and Naruto seemed the safer, more comfortable, more known path for her to take.

But her heart and body had yearned almost desperately to be with him, she couldn't deny that anymore.

His eyes began to flutter open, there was something soft and sleepy about them and she found for the first time she was able to look fully into them without being intensely overwhelmed.

Hinata realized belatedly she should feel embarrassed waking up next to him, even though she was still fully clothed, but she didn't. There was something very restful about being around him. At least she thought so, until his eyes continued to watch her almost in an observing manner like a scientist would, and she had to tear her gaze away from him. And when she glanced over at the clock and she remembered it was Friday, and she had to go to work.

The clock showed 6:45 A.M. and she needed to be at work at 8:00.

Her mind began to race as she tried to figure out how she was going to be able to drive back home, get cleaned up and make it to the downtown area on time. As she mentally calculated it, she knew she wouldn't be able to.

Though it almost pained her to do it, because she has never missed a day of work in the year she has been employed there, she was going to have to call in and ask for a sick day off.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Itachi casually slide out of the other side of the bed, clad in gray shorts and a white t-shirt, his long black hair was disheveled around his shoulders and a sinking feeling of unfaithfulness began to seep painfully into her psyche.

As her eyes followed the almost graceful, controlled movements of his unhurried stride, she thought it would be impossible for her not to feel some amount of guilt; he was just too tempting of a man for any woman to resist.

As she stood up and searched around the room for her purse, she tried her best to squash the gnawing feeling and remind herself that nothing happened last night between them. It didn't work though, because even though nothing physical had happened between them, she couldn't remember a time when she felt closer to someone, than she did to him last night.

* * *

After she called her boss and had no problems getting the day off, Itachi, who had already showered, politely showed her where the bathroom was and handed her a clean towel before heading off toward the kitchen.

It didn't take her long to get cleaned up and the water had felt nice, she especially enjoyed using his shampoo, it had a citrusy masculine fragrance to it that was made for men, but she thought it was delightful smelling.

When a little nervously she headed into the kitchen she felt a lot cleaner, but still felt a little rumpled as she had to put back on the wrinkled clothes she had worn yesterday and slept in last night. Her eyes looked around the small kitchen and she noticed it was meticulously clean, just like the rest of the sparsely furnished apartment. Off to the side she saw a small dining room and he was already seated at the table in a composed manner drinking tea with a science journal in front of him.

"I'm in here," he told her as he offered her a seat, and she saw on the table in front of it he had made her a hot cup green tea and there was some buttered toast and fresh cut up fruit on a plate.

"Thank you," she told him with a soft expression on her face, because of his thoughtfulness, a small blush slid over her face as she sat down.

Itachi momentarily looked a little uncomfortable as he gave a small shrug, "This is pretty much the extent of my culinary abilities," he said in a self-depreciating manner.

Hinata smiled, noting his attempt to make her feel more relaxed in this somewhat awkward situation. "Well, I appreciate it. I am a little hungry after not eating dinner last night."

Itachi wanted to apologize, but he didn't say anything back because he wanted to give her a chance to eat before they had a more serious talk about last night, and their future. So for the next several moments they ate in almost, but not quite, comfortable silence.

He glanced over at her and noticed she had finished eating and was demurely sipping her tea. His eyes were quietly serious as he told her, "We need to talk."

Hinata nodded, she had been expecting him to say something like that. "Okay," she said a little warily. There were a couple of elephants in the room they needed to banish.

His eyes were a little apologetic as he began, "I'm sorry I brought you here last night instead of taking you home and you ended up missing work because of it."

Hinata's brow puckered a little as she had been wondering about it too. "Why did you?"

"I wanted to see how you reacted to me with your guard completely down. I needed to see your reaction to me when you first woke up," he stated quietly and his intelligent eyes had a small knowing glint in them.

Hinata fought down the heavy blush that was spreading over her face knowing she had clamped onto him like a limpet last night. She frowned slightly as the way he talked reminded her of the way her (former science teacher) father sometimes observed things. "Are you a scientist?"

"Yes, and a physicist as well," he answered her a little cautiously, he didn't want to turn this conversation into one about his doctorate degrees, he had more important things to discuss with her.

She breathed out a little in awe before she admitted softly, "There's a lot I don't know about you." She only knew a few things about him that Sasuke had mentioned over the years, such as he was a genius, and he lived in America.

He leaned closer to her as he stated reasonably, "Then let me spend time with you, so we can learn about each other."

She released a shaky breath as she looked at him. "I want to, Itachi," she said and the look of longing in her eyes betrayed just how badly. "But I feel like it would be wrong to do something like that…while I am still engaged."

"This is a difficult situation, and one way or another someone is going to be hurt by it, it is inevitable," he told her in a calm voice that was tinged with frustration. "You are going to have to make a decision."

Hinata covered her face with her hands as she breathed out a shattered breath, "I know I haven't been honest with myself or you. I just don't want to hurt you and I don't want to do anything to betray Naruto."

"You have already betrayed Naruto and you will continue to do so if you marry him, while loving and wanting another," he told her in a quiet, but brutally honest voice as there was no way for him to sugar coat that fact.

Hinata flinched as his words sliced through her, knowing he was right. In her heart she has betrayed Naruto many times over the past few days and knew she did desire Itachi more, but all of that didn't mean she didn't still love Naruto.

She lifted her eyes and shook her head in denial with hot tears in her eyes as she stated, "I love Naruto, I always have."

Those words were intensely painful for Itachi to hear, and in a large way they almost ripped out the foundation of the empirical data he had just established with her that _he_ was the one she really wanted to be with.

This whole emotional situation was completely beyond the bounds of his experience so his analytical mind determined he needed more data, "Tell me why you love him?"

Hinata looked at his tightly controlled manner and could tell she had just hurt him, badly. She didn't want to love both of them, she just did.

She couldn't look at him as she started to talk and the fierce ache of that time was still as fresh now, as it was to her back then. "My mother died when I was five years old and my father locked himself up in his room for days after the funeral. I had some family around, but…they aren't the type of people who would ever think to comfort a young child."

A flash of pain went over her eyes before she continued, "I took over most of the care of my younger sister, and over time my father began to get better. Even so, he turned to his work and we were pretty much left with a few servants to help raise us, but mostly we were left on our own." She felt a tear slip down her face and it wasn't for her, but for her younger sister who had struggled with anger problems toward their father from an early age and it only recently had gotten better.

"I attended school, but I felt like I was an adult around children. I couldn't relate to them. How could I? I was organizing fundraising and social parties for my father when I was six years old and managing a household. I couldn't talk to them and it made it worse that our driver came every day to pick me up from school; I was isolated and very shy," she said in a voice so painfully sad, Itachi reached out and covered her hand with his and clasped it tightly.

Itachi watched her eyes that were shuttered as if the painful memories had brought to her to a dark and lonely place and then suddenly as if ray of light began to float over her skin, she smiled beautifully before continuing in a voice tinged with awe.

"About a year later, Naruto moved to the area and started attending our school and he was so bright and funny, he immediately drew everyone to him. A large group formed around him, your brother, Sasuke, was one of his best friends. And one day Naruto left the group and had lunch with me under one of the trees out near the playground. After that, he pulled me along with him to meet everyone, and I wasn't alone anymore," Hinata said with a soft, almost dreamy smile as she thought about that period in her life. It had been the start of a new and much happier time in her life and she owed it all to Naruto.

Then, leaving nothing out, she began to tell him about the more recent years she spent patiently admiring him and watching him as he played sports, fought with Sasuke, and followed after Sakura. It had been painful for her to always be watching him, while he only wanted to be with someone else.

While she finished the rest of her story about how they started to date, Itachi listened carefully and he began to understand and accept that she did love Naruto in her own way, but it was much different than what she felt for him. He just needed to clarify and help her to differentiate between the two of them. In the end she would have to make a choice.

Hinata felt drained after sharing so much of her past and personal thoughts with him, she also felt unaccountably nervous, she didn't want to hurt him anymore, she just wanted him to understand her better.

Her eyes were filled with worry as she met his, "Do you understand where I am coming from, and why I don't want to hurt him, or go behind his back?"

Itachi nodded and he spoke simply, "I have no intention of going behind his back. Since you claim to love me too, and I also want to marry you, I feel he and I are on equal ground."

Hinata stared back at him with her mouth slightly ajar as she tried to wrap her conventional mind around his uncompromising logic. To some degree he was right, but in other ways she didn't agree. For one thing she couldn't date both of them at the same time; it felt just so wrong to her.

She looked into his firm, but utterly serene eyes and saw that he truly didn't care what anyone else thought. It was as if he had his own personal code of ethics and she didn't quite understand the rules to them.

"I agreed to marry Naruto, and I haven't agreed to marry you," she reminded him as her voice shook a little nervously, trying to stand up to him. She was learning beneath his beautifully calm exterior was a very complex and imposing individual.

Itachi looked at her with a measure of respect; he had been hoping she wouldn't use that particular weak point against him. "I will grant you and him that one, but there is an equalizer in my mind."

Hinata's eyes questioned his, and her breath was forced out as she felt herself being pulled up by her arm as his tightened around her and he bent over her so his tempting mouth was inches away from hers.

His eyes as he looked down at her were nearly black and heavy with longing as he said with quiet sincerity, "I'm the one you'll keep awake at night, because I don't have you beside me… and I need you with me."

His honest words touched one of the essential places in her heart and she longed to reach up and close the distance between their mouths, but honesty compelled her to admit with equal sincerity, "You know it's the same for me, I won't hide it anymore."

Relief passed over him as he pulled her face close to chest and placed his cheek against her head, while she clamped her arms tightly around him for several moments before he said, "You and I will spend time together out in the open and…"

Hinata backed out his arms, her face was red and her body was nearly trembling with desire for him. "W-wait...Itachi, I don't think I will be able to handle for you to touch me, I won't be able to resist you if we do those things together…and I want to be fair to Naruo," she told him in a tortured voice and he could see the strain in her eyes as well her integrity in her upright stance.

For a moment as they looked at each other, passion hung heavily in the air between them.

Itachi released a ragged breath as he broke eye contact with her, and a soft but ironic smile touched his mouth as he said, "I see your point, and I will agree to have a _platonic_ relationship with you until you make your decision."

"I think it will be for the best," Hinata said as she stared at him and her body was already regretting her mind's restrictions on it. However, she decided it would be the fairest way to learn how his mind worked and what kind of person he was without being influenced completely by physical attraction and desire.

"My flight leaves the following Sunday to go back to the States, I will give you until after the concert on Friday to decide which one of us you want to marry," he told her in a serious manner, while his eyes were warm and soft and caressed her face. In his mind, he had already determined the outcome, and he wasn't about to give her up.

She looked back at him and the thought of him leaving her for good, made her heart ache. But she owed it to Naruto to try her hardest to be fair and honest in making her decision. As she glanced over at Itachi, and saw he appeared to be deep in thought, she had a feeling he wasn't going to make this decision easy for her.

**Author's Note:** I decided to slow down the updates a little to spend more time fleshing out the story and the plot. I hope you like this one and I am looking forward to writing the next few chapters to delve deeper into these characters feelings and emotions. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**A Simple Affair**

**Chapter 10**

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**Thanks for your comments and reviews, hugs: **xXYour DoomXx, reneelg1963, Guest, Fierian Ra, Fujisan, Dani Stark, fanofthisfiction, Sesshomarus'Luver, Kibachow, and aurora0914. I appreciate all of you more than you know.

**Music: **I found a violin and piano piece called Broken Violin (very sad romance with violin and piano) on YT. I took artistic liberty and said Sasuke wrote it, but obviously he didn't. Anyway, it is really awesome. Also, the piece they are playing for the concert is, Claude Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, for flute and piano.

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The next several hours were like a form of sweet torment to her. As she spent time with Itachi she found they flowed together almost perfectly in a seamless way that was so simple, and natural, it was frightening. It was almost on an instinctive level their personalities just seemed to mesh and be completely in sync.

On the way back to her house they performed some mundane shopping errands for the family dinner party her father was giving her tonight. Being with him made those dull tasks almost enjoyable; he was so undemanding and restful as if he was content just to be with her.

And though she tried her best, she couldn't keep her eyes off him; she was finding even the smallest of his movements to be endlessly fascinating. The effortless way he walked, and the beautifully calm way he tilted his head when he was listening attentively to her, to the way his finely shaped eyebrow curved when he was amused by something.

A deep, gushing wellspring of love and joy was beginning to expand her in her heart, but just bubbling ominously beneath the surface was Naruto, and the painfully honest conversation she was planning to have with him later tonight.

It permeated her mind and was crushing her heart with guilt and shame, as she struggled what to tell him, and how to tell him, about her feelings about Itachi and about what she still felt for him.

Naruto always had so much faith in her, and now she was going to have to tell him she felt love for someone else, and the thought of him just walking away from her and telling her he never wanted to see her again was also tearing her up inside.

The two of them shared such big dreams together, Naruto was planning to one day run for mayor and she was going to help him. He cared about people, and wanted to do his part to help the community and the environment. There were also his parents to consider in all of this. She loved them so much, the thought of disappointing them was unbearable to her.

From his position behind the piano in Hinata's elegant music room, he watched her face and could tell by the worried look of anguish on it, she was thinking about Naruto. Without another thought he stopped playing and went to her and put his arms gently around her in an almost brotherly hug. So far, he had kept his word and his distance from her today, though it wasn't easy.

"You're not alone in this," he reminded her and felt her try to stifle her tears. "It's alright if you cry," he said as he gave her an awkward pat on the back.

A choked tearful laugh escaped her as he reminded her so much of Sasuke, it seemed that both of them were equally bad at comforting people.

"Thank you Itachi, I am doing better now," she told him with a weak smile and met his eyes and saw they were soft with compassion for her.

"If I could fix this problem for you I would, but this is something you must do for yourself."

"I know, I just don't know what to say to him," she told him and her voice broke as she looked at him with anxious and worried eyes.

Swallowing the pain of unexpected jealousy, his voice was a little tight when he answered her, "I would tell him everything, you obviously respect him a lot, and if I was him, I would want to know."

Hinata saw the pain in his eyes and tightness around his mouth and could tell this wasn't easy for him maintain such a position of neutrality. She could tell that he had made the decision to support her through it all, no matter what she decided. She wondered if she was in his position would she have been able to do the same.

_I love you Itachi_; she thought as she couldn't keep the safe amount of distance of inches between them any longer and clasped him tightly to her. She couldn't say the words out loud to him until she was free to do so, but she could think them.

His eyes closed slowly as if he was in pain as he held her to him and savored the feel of her against him. "I'm not going anywhere, Hinata, until you tell me to," he promised her quietly while his hand smoothed her long hair down her back.

She felt the raw sting of tears behind her eyes as she pulled away from him and looked up, her eyes slid over his mouth longing to have it over hers.

His eyes read her clearly and as he bent his head toward hers he said, "I can't promise you it will be platonic."

A bubble of startled laughter escaped her at his unexpected joke, followed by his warm mouth tenderly covering hers. A soft moan sounded in her throat knowing his beautiful, sensitive mouth was on hers. She couldn't stop herself from wanting him and it felt like she had stared at it all morning. As she responded to him with an intense passion, she had never shown to Naruto, she felt weak and sick with guilt knowing she should have kept her distance from him. His arms tightened around her and his mouth become harder and more demanding and as she started to melt against him common sense returned to her and she pushed slightly on his chest and he immediately released her.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist you anymore," she admitted in a strangled voice as she covered her mortified face with shaky hands.

"I don't think I would be able to either, Hinata," Hanabi's wry and slightly shocked voice said from the music room doorway. She hadn't expected to see her very proper sister in such a…position. "If he," she pointed toward Itachi, "is the reason you can't sleep at night, I have to say I definitely approve. Whoa!"

"Hanabi…" Hinata started to say in a choked voice before Hanabi cut her off with a laugh. She was absolutely elated by what she had just witnessed.

"Don't even try to tell me you guys are just friends, because not even an idiot would believe that. Speaking of idiots, does HE know about the two of you yet?"

"Excuse me," Hinata mumbled to Itachi before running out of the room to go compose herself, she didn't have the energy to deal with her sister right now, leaving Hanabi alone with him.

The younger Hyuuga gave him a long, penetrating and searching look before she held out her hand. "I'm Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister," she said brusquely and looked at him with eyes that were a little jaded, like she had seen the world and wasn't impressed with much in it.

"I'm Itachi Uchiha," he responded politely as he shook her hand, there was a small smile on his face as he had a feeling he was meeting the black sheep of the family. He could tell from the engagement party most of them seemed to be very upright and snobby.

Hanabi breathed out an exaggerated sigh of relief as she exclaimed, "You have no idea how happy I am to see you show up in her life, I thought for sure I was going to have to deal with _him_ forever. Don't get me wrong? He is nice and he does care for her…" she explained and her pretty eyes began to grow troubled as she added, "…but his personality overshadows hers, and she can't shine around him. If she stays with him, I am afraid she will have no dreams of her own, they will all be his. He also talks over her sometimes and it makes me want to punch him hard in the face," she said as she made a tight fist.

As Itachi listened to her, her words added to his decision to also have some words with Naruto before the night was through. There were some things he very much wanted to know.

"Do you love her?" Hanabi asked him quietly, and her eyes as she looked at him, were intensely serious.

"Yes," he stated simply.

She grinned fiercely. "Good, because if you don't…there's no way in hell I'll let you have her. She's not only my big sister, she is almost like my mother and I won't give her up to anyone who isn't worthy of her."

"I will do my best to make her happy," he promised her seriously, and was glad to see Hanabi appreciated all that her sister had sacrificed for her over the years.

"I'll be rooting for you, Nii-san," she said as she slipped her arm happily through his. "Come on, I missed lunch today and I am starving…I have to warn you about this party tonight…it is seriously going to suck, my family is about as fun as walking dead people, scratch that…dead people are definitely more fun than them," she rattled on with a giant shudder.

* * *

While they were having lunch, a more composed Hinata joined them and they went back into the music room, Hanabi stayed with them and was busy texting her friends and she only teased Hinata once or twice which made her blush. She stayed because she loved the sound of her sister's flute; it always reminded her of her real mother, from so long ago.

Itachi played his part of the prelude first and Hinata could feel excitement build in her because of the sheer beauty of it, he was a far better piano player than her friend in college was.

After he was done she started to play her flute and the hauntingly beautiful opening notes began to weave their soft melody around the room. Itachi and Hanabi both closed their eyes while they listened to the light and sweet tone of it.

In the background, Hanabi heard the doorbell ring and she ran to go get it. She hoped it wasn't one of her family members coming to the party early and she was pleasantly surprised to see Itachi's brother at the door, she had met him a few times over the years and always got along well with him.

"Sasuke!" She yelled happily, thinking today was turning out to be a fantastic day as she welcomed him into the imposing foyer of the mansion. She looked down and saw he had an instrument case with him. "Did Hinata invite you?"

"No," he responded bluntly. "Nii-san did."

"Well, the more the merrier, this party is really going to blow."

"I don't doubt it," Sasuke added wryly.

An evil grin slid over her face, "I've got a drum solo from hell I am going to play later that ought to liven this place up a bit. Most of my relatives are such assholes; hopefully it will make them leave."

As Hanabi showed him where to put his coat and was leading him to the music room where they could just hear Hinata finishing up the prelude she was playing, shared with him, "I've adopted your gorgeous brother and my sister's already madly in love with him."

Sasuke nodded, he wasn't surprised. His brother has incredible focus and right now all of it was being focused on just one person, the end result was inevitable in his mind. He walked through the door and he saw Hinata playing the last few notes and he let his eyes slide over her thinking she looked unusually pretty today.

He looked over and met his brother's dark and knowing eyes and cringed inside when he saw Itachi had guessed the truth, he cared for Hinata.

* * *

He went over and sat next to his brother on one of the elegant couches in placed strategically around the room for the best view and sound.

"I always wondered who it was you wrote that violin music for," Itachi said quietly next to his brother's ear. Sasuke wrote it several years ago before Itachi went to America.

"I don't want to talk about it, it's in the past," Sasuke said in a tight voice.

Itachi gave a sideways look at his brother and now some things were starting to make sense. A few months ago, Sasuke had been practically begging him to come back to Japan and he couldn't because of work. Finally, Itachi had caved in, and made the arrangements at work and bought his plane ticket home.

Sasuke looked at him and confirmed, "If I can't have her, I would rather you did. Naruto doesn't appreciate her, and I know you will."

The brothers shared a look of understanding, before Itachi nodded solemnly. "Thank you Sasuke. I invited you here so we can play your song tonight and she can hear it," he said quietly and he kept his other reason for wanting his brother to play violin to himself.

"Fine," Sasuke muttered as he was still not happy his brother had forced him out into the open, and watched his brother stand up and go back behind the piano.

They were ready to start playing the prelude together for real and once they were settled, Hinata started playing the first notes and soon the sound of the piano began to blend in with it. The sound of it was so unexpectedly beautiful, their eyes met and they smiled.

Hiashi came through the front door after a long day and saw some of the caterers milling about he remembered about the party tonight. He hoped his future son in law wasn't coming tonight. He really wanted this to be a goodbye party for Hinata with just family and most of the family loathed Naruto.

His ears perked up when he heard the music and his face was wreathed in a huge smile as he went into the kitchen to open a bottle of champagne early. He had a glass of the bubbly stuff in his hand when he entered the music room and he was stunned by the sound of it.

Hinata's flute sounded different, it was lighter and sweeter, a lot like the way his late wife used to play it. And the sound of it with Itachi's piano playing was almost magical. They were off in a few places technically, but by the time of the concert on Friday, he knew it was going to be something special. He gazed up and happened to catch Itachi and Hinata sharing a quietly intimate and pleased look.

Lifting his glass he silently toasted the man he hoped would one day be his son in law.

* * *

The dinner party was a typical Hyuuga party, lots of complaining, misery, but this one had one thing separating it from other events. There was a united and shared purpose in that everyone disliked Hinata's fiancé and when each of them saw Itachi and Sasuke there thinking one of them was his replacement, they all kept making snide comments like: "You know I never really liked him, Hinata…and…I'm so glad you came to your senses, what were you thinking?"

Those comments made her understand why he'd told her he had something else to do tonight and didn't want to come. If this was the way her family was always treating him then she didn't blame him. She finally had enough and made a bristling announcement like a mother hen protecting her chick in front of all of them, "I am still engaged to Naruto, and I expect all of you to treat him with respect in the future."

Itachi watched the scene and realized her family was only pushing her back to him by their actions. He met his brother's eyes across the table and Sasuke scowled suddenly and carefully removed Hinata's great-grandmother's wrinkled hand from off of his leg as she winked at him.

Itachi sent a hard stare to Hinata's austere looking aunt next to him, who was also getting a little grabby before she finally got the hint and removed her hand away from him with a sly smile.

Hanabi laughed behind her hand and looked at her adopted brothers and mouthed sorry. She knew the women in her family always had an eye for dark-haired eye candy like them, it was a Hyuuga weakness.

* * *

After dessert, some of the non-music lovers went home and Hanabi practically pushed them out the door, but a lot of the rest of the family stayed and the room soon filled up with people. Hiashi played a competent Beethoven first, and then he played a piece with piano and flute with Hinata. He wasn't nearly as talented as Itachi, but he enjoyed playing it.

Hanabi played her loud-ass drum solo and it had its intended result, all of asshole Hyuugas left except for the immediate family and Itachi and Sasuke.

"Hanabi," Hiashi said to his daughter with a fond smile, "You are getting better."

"Uh thanks, Father," she said in surprise, he usually complained when she played the drums. She noticed he was in an exceptionally good mood tonight. It wasn't hard for her to guess as her eyes slipped toward Itachi and Hinata.

Sasuke and Itachi got up next and Hanabi took a picture of them with her phone to send to her friends, they were going to be so jealous when they saw who she got to hang out with tonight. Sasuke Uchiha, even though he was 22, he was still a legend at her high school.

Sasuke did a few warm ups with his violin before he signaled to his brother he was ready to play. When they started Hiashi and Hinata looked at each other in amazement, the music was something brand new, and they didn't recognize the composer or the piece. It was dark, and tortuously sad and the combination of the piano and violin was simply beautiful. Sasuke was very talented and had surprisingly sensitive hands as he played it.

Hinata closed her eyes and let the music roll over her, something about it touched her heart. It was so full of pain and longing, she looked up and saw Sasuke was watching her quietly and she met his eyes for just a minute and she smiled softly at him as she wondered what he was thinking.

Itachi watched the small exchange over the piano and felt empathy and sadness for his brother. Sasuke wasn't the sort of person who loved easily and it had to be hard for him to give up on her. If he had known the truth sooner he would have never gone near her, but it was obvious to him Sasuke had wanted him to meet her and approved of their relationship.

He looked at his younger brother and promised to love her enough for both of them.

After they all clapped and Hiashi went over and patted Sasuke on the back. "That was brilliant, I had no idea you could play so well."

Hinata frowned while still smiling, "I've never heard that before, who was the composer?"

"Sasuke wrote it," Itachi said coolly and gave his brother a knowing look. If he hadn't exposed his secret talent, Sasuke would have taken it to the grave with him.

"Nii-san, made up the piano parts," he said uncomfortably.

Hiashi was impressed and was already thinking about all of the tickets he would be able to sell if these two would perform on stage together next week. There would also be a lot of people from the music industry that might be interested in hearing this music and possibly publishing it.

"Sasuke would you like to perform this piece on stage with your brother? He is already performing with Hinata and we could just have you and Itachi go on before them."

Sasuke shot his brother a quick glare at his maneuvering of him before he told him he would do it.

After that they made arrangements to practice together a bit and then they started preparing to go out for the evening.

On the way to the bar where they usually hung out on Friday evenings, Hinata rode with Itachi in his car and held his hand all the way there. She was a nervous wreck, but she was finally ready to tell Naruto the truth.

**Author's Note:** I just want to say I am not trying to bash Naruto, I actually like the character, I was just trying to point out how snobby the Hyuugas are.

Sorry if the music is boring any of you. I am a huge fan of Nodame Cantabile (manga, drama, anime) and have always wanted to incorporate music into a fic. That said, I bumped up the rating to M because of sexual tension, and language. I don't plan for there to be anything graphic down the road but I want to play it safe, it will be similar to Kismet. The next chapter is obviously going to be a little angsty. Thanks to all of you for sticking with me, I plan to finish this by the end of November. Hugs!

**Naruto Shippuden Anime:** (Spoiler) Okay, the last episode was great and I know episode 339 (coming out subbed next Thursday in the US) is going to make me cry. If you haven't been watching them…what are you waiting for?


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

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_**Extra special thanks to: traciss, Guests, lovebadboyhina, reneelg1963, Dani Stark, XxJasmineReyxX, fanofthisfiction, Fujisan, Fierian Ra, aurora0914, roti bakar, xXYour DoomXx, and Sesshomarus'Luver. I appreciate the time you took to leave comments and I hope all you like the direction I am taking this story. Hugs.**_

* * *

It seemed in the past during the tough times in her life she had always been alone, and insecure, but with the two of them flanking her on either side like tall towers of strength, Hinata felt amazingly supported. And as she walked with them nicely dressed in dark, sleek, business/evening casual through the Shibuya area in downtown Tokyo Hinata felt like she had a giant bull's-eye on her forehead.

She should be dead from the sheer number of evil glances and poisonous looks she has received being in the company of the two divinely good looking brothers at night.

After one of their over-zealous admirers launched a beer can at her head which she just barely dodged, she was about to ask Sasuke if it was always like this for them when he griped caustically to his brother over her head, "When am I fucking going to learn not to go out in public with you, Itachi."

"Just ignore them," his older brother said calmly to mollify him, completely unperturbed by it as usual. His arm went solicitously around her shoulder sheltering her closer to him. "Are you alright?" He asked her with concerned and slightly apologetic eyes. He knew he and Sasuke were used to this nonsense, but she was not.

"I'm fine, it didn't hit me," she said with a reassuring smile.

After a long searching look assured him she was doing fine, he finally turned away from her. A look of pity formed in her eyes as she watched another set of women stop in front of them with an arrested look on their faces as they stared from one brother to the other. She really couldn't blame any of them for staring; she knew she could probably gaze at Itachi for days and never grow weary of it.

As they turned around a corner and the trendy night club they hung out came into view, Hinata felt the bottom of her stomach drop out with nerves, but her chin lifted too as she was more than ready to do what she needed to do.

A small muffled gasp escaped her when Itachi suddenly pulled her to him and took her lips in a sweet, swift kiss before staring down at her and when she saw the tension in his eyes behind the mask of calm he normally wore; she curved her hand gently around his face.

"I promise… I'll face my feelings honestly," she said firmly and as she looked at him she wished with all her being that she was the one who would be hurt the most, she couldn't bear for it to be either one of them.

"I know, Hinata," he said and the tender look in his onyx eyes told her he really did understand how she felt. A soft smile slid almost unknowingly over her face as she gazed up at him.

"Come on, let's get this over," Sasuke said impatiently as he held the door open for the lovebirds.

* * *

Walking through the popular, mid-sized night club in a state of unnatural calm, she was ready to see Naruto. Her emotions had been stretched out to the limit for too long and she couldn't hold it in any longer. Beside her with his hand around hers, Itachi was like a rock to her, steady and sure.

As the three of them drew nearer to their usual table, she felt a sharp burning pang of anguish in her chest as she watched Naruto laugh happily at something Choji just said to him. She knew in a few minutes he wasn't going to be laughing.

As they approached, Naruto's smile of welcome when he noticed Hinata was with Sasuke turned into a dark and suspicious frown as he glared at his best friend. "Why are you hanging out with my fiancé?"

Sasuke's brilliant dark eyes were deceptively calm as he said, "We had dinner at _Hinata's_ house, where YOU should have been earlier tonight."

A grimly jocular shudder ran through the blonde as he immediately relaxed some, but not all. "OH NO – NO THANK YOU! Her family hates me."

Everyone around the table was on edge, and groaned at Naruto's obtuse blindness, as even they could tell there was something obviously wrong with Hinata. Who was staring at him with the most nakedly guilty set of eyes they had ever witnessed on anyone in their entire lives and she was holding Sasuke's brother's hand like it was her lifeline.

Naruto's slightly wary and jealous gaze only had his best friend, in his sight.

And Sasuke was clearly baiting him, as the tense way he stood there was definitely trying to provoke him.

Hinata moved to speak and wanted to apologize for her family on top of all of her other transgressions, but Itachi tightened his hand around hers and spoke with quiet urgency in her ear, "Wait Hinata, let Sasuke speak."

Though she was practically trembling in the need to spill her guts to Naruto, she held back.

He wanted to hear what his brother had to say, but he also thought it might be important for Hinata to hear it as well. And he could tell Sasuke had some things he needed to get off of his chest.

Hiding behind Sasuke's cynical eyes was a heavily veiled sense of disappointment as he addressed Naruto over the club music in the background. "Do you remember when I told you a few months ago, I was giving up on Hinata because she never noticed me…?" At that revelation a simultaneous gasp sounded through the crowd of friends. The only people who knew that fact had been Naruto, Shikamaru had guessed it too, and of course, Itachi had just learned.

Hinata was already overloaded with emotion, but the information still made her feel absolutely horrible as she tore her eyes away from Naruto and looked over at Sasuke and saw he was still glaring over at Naruto.

"…I got tired of her watching you… and you watching Sakura all of the time and the three of you were all so miserable. So I said something to you, because I knew the minute I did…YOU WOULD GO AFTER HER TO PROVE YOU BEAT ME."

"That's not true! I didn't ask her because of that, you bastard!" Naruto denied hotly.

"Bullshit, I know you so fucking well Dobe, I could have a degree in understanding you. You didn't even wait twenty-four hours to ask her out," Sasuke retaliated with a caustic lash of harsh truth in his voice.

"I did this for you…" Sasuke continued as he glared at his best friend and his voice was taut with pent up emotion, "…and I did it for Hinata, because I wanted you both to be happy. And what do you do? You neglect her, and you treat her like she's nothing but your shadow."

"It's true, Naruto," Ino chimed in hotly, not liking to see Sasuke upset, and because she wanted to stand up for Hinata. "I warned you something bad was going to happen if you didn't start treating her better, you deserve what you get."

"Yeah, Naruto, Hinata takes care of all of us, all of the time and she always has. What have you done for her lately?" Sakura added in a frustrated voice as if she had been holding this in for a while. "I bet you don't even know her favorite color?"

Naruto's blue eyes were a little baffled as he looked at everyone suddenly ganging up on him and said wrongly, "Orange."

Sakura smacked him on the back of his head a little harder than usual, "That's your favorite color, dummy!"

At this point Hinata couldn't take it anymore as she yelled out the anguished words as if they were being ripped out of her. "S-stop it, all of you! Naruto hasn't done anything w-wrong! I-I'm the guilty one!"

Naruto finally took a closer look at her and saw the intense pain and remorse in her eyes with an ominous sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. His eyes were immediately suspicious as he glanced over at Sasuke who was still pissed off and glaring darkly back at him.

"Hinata, what is it?" He said when he finally put his gaze back on her.

Hot, scalding tears began to burn behind her eyes as she leaned across the table he was seated at and looked at his dear face and confessed in a raw voice, "I-I've been unfaithful to you and I have l-lied to you…m-many times this week."

"What…do… you… mean… unfaithful… and lied… to… me?" he asked in a stunted, and painfully slow way as he could feel the happy bubble he always had around him begin to disintegrate savagely, leaving only heartache from the person he least expected ever to do it to him.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean… for it to… happen…" her voice broke desperately with aching sincerity and her tear-filled eyes were heavy with self-reproach, "…it just did, and I couldn't give him up…I tried, but I was so miserable, I couldn't eat or sleep for days."

He had a mixture of intense hurt and anger in his eyes as he rounded on Sasuke, "You bastard, how dare you screw around with her behind my back, I thought you were my friend!"

Sasuke tried not to enjoy this, but part of him did to some degree. He thought Naruto deserved every bit of this and more as he looked back at him and smirked darkly.

Enraged, Naruto stood up suddenly with his fists clenched. Sasuke's eyes narrowed just a fraction telling him to bring it on.

Itachi was in between them in a flash and Hinata came along with him, because she refused to let go of his hand.

"Why the hell are YOU getting involved? This is between me and your brother," Naruto said to him angrily.

"It was me," he said in a cool, unapologetic voice, there was no way he was going to apologize for falling in love with Hinata. He could only feel some pity for Naruto because he was going to lose her, and he knew how painful that felt. The blonde had his chance with her, but didn't love her enough for him to ever consider giving her back to him.

When Hinata saw the anger building on Naruto's face, she wedged herself between them in a blind rush and said quickly, "Naruto, I didn't sleep with him - I fell in love with him."

And while Naruto finally absorbed this just as bad, and in some ways worse information, his blue eyes became disillusioned, almost childlike as he finally noticed their hands were linked tightly together. Her words shocked him; he never expected her to ever love anyone else, but him. She had always been there for him, even when he liked someone else.

"I thought you said you were immune to them," he said roughly in an oddly subdued voice as his lips twisted bitterly.

"I'm s-sorry, I lied to you, I-I'm not immune to Itachi at all," she choked out in a strangled voice as this was one of the things she felt the most guilt about.

That bit of the truth cut through him, Hinata barely let him touch her all the time they went out.

"Fine," Naruto mumbled in a dejected voice that was so unlike his normal, confident self that Hinata started to cry. "If you love him so much, then just go with him… the wedding's off."

With one last look at the incredibly, self-assured genius, who was everything Hinata's snobby father would ever want in a son in law. And also seeing Hinata standing next to him as her hand clung intimately to his was like rubbing salt in an open wound, and Naruto couldn't take any more. He turned to leave.

"Wait, Naruto! I still love you…I don't want to lose you!" Hinata cried out frantically as she had to make him understand that she loved both of them.

A flash of pain washed over his eyes, he didn't understand what she wanted from him, and at this point he was too shell-shocked to care, he just wanted to go home, so he could think.

"I can't talk to you anymore," he said in daze before he turned away from her.

He took one step before Sakura blocked his way by putting her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her so she could kiss him. His eyes opened in shock when he felt her lips seize his in a warmly, insistent kiss while the surprised group of friends watched them with stunned faces.

"Sakura, what the hell are you doing?" Ino yelled out.

Ignoring her friend, Sakura continued to almost patiently kiss him until she felt a response from him and then she released him with aplomb. She let go of him so fast he nearly stumbled backward.

"Why did you do that, Sakura?" Naruto asked a little breathlessly, and his confused eyes were searching hers warily to see if she was mocking him.

Sakura smiled thoughtfully as she stared back at him and then she glanced over at Hinata, who was standing there rooted to the spot with a very subdued look on her face as she stared down at the ground.

"Your mom has been worried about Hinata, and she asked me to keep an eye out over the two of you and if a situation came up where some clarity was needed, she asked me to do it. She thought it would show both of you what's really in your hearts. Sleep well…my friends," Sakura said as her eyes swept over Hinata, who was still deep in thought, before they landed on Itachi and she gave him a small wink before leaving to take Naruto home.

Thinking Naruto's mother, who was also friends with his mom, was a wise woman indeed, his eyes were almost thoughtful as he put his arm around Hinata and said to her softly, "Come on, I'll take you home."

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I have had a tough week and have struggled a little with this chapter. I'm sorry to leave you with a cliffie, I am just trying to keep all of my options open in this story. For the record Naru/Saku is not set in stone at all. Please continue to share your thoughts with me, good or bad, I love to hear them.

**Naruto Shippuden:** (Spoiler) I haven't watched episode 339 yet, even though it came out today. I am torn…I want to watch it, but I don't want to have to say goodbye to Itachi again. RIP to one of the best anime characters ever.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

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**Chapter music: Debussy Reverie**

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**Many awesome thanks to: **Sesshomarus'Luver, VanillaOK, Fujisan, Guest, seto'swifey, Fierian Ra, traciss, Coffeeshot, kibachow, xXYour DoomXx, Dani Stark, fanofthisfiction, aurora0914 and Dotchi13. Thanks you guys and I just wanted to let you know I decided NOT to go in the Naruto/Sakura direction, I felt that would be too mean to Naruto.

* * *

On the drive home, a still withdrawn Hinata sat in the passenger seat beside Itachi and was grateful for his understanding as he remained silent while he drove. Her body was outwardly calm, but her mind was still relentlessly churning over the events that had transpired this evening.

Nothing had gone the way she had thought it would. There had been things she hadn't been aware of and they had surprised her. She hadn't realized so many of their friends harbored resentment towards Naruto for not treating her the way they thought he should have, especially Sasuke.

Sadly, she knew some of that had been her fault, she wasn't one to complain, and when plans conflicted or small disagreements would come up between her and Naruto, she just acceded to his wishes rather than push for her own way. She just didn't want to argue with him and the uncomfortable truth was starting to penetrate her mind that she been floating around on a fragile bubble of pseudo happiness ever since she had started going out with him, and she had not wanted to do or say anything to burst it.

For the past few months it had been as though she had been blinded by the radiant optimism that surrounded Naruto like sunshine, and she didn't allow herself to see anything else, but fulfilling her dreams of being with him. So when he asked her to marry him she had blissfully ignored all of the warning signs in her head, and had said yes.

In hindsight, it had been foolish of her, but she knew also the two of them had loved each other in their own ways; the pain on Naruto's face had been real when he told her the wedding was off. When he said those words, they had hurt her too, and she probably would have continued to stubbornly follow after him until Sakura had kissed him and made her see the stark truth, she had not been able to see, or accept before.

It had blindsided her to realize it barely bothered her to watch her kiss him, and had she witnessed someone doing that to Itachi she knew it probably would have killed her. It was then, it all became startlingly clear to her, the love she felt for Naruto wasn't the kind she wanted to build a happy marriage around.

She breathed out feeling utterly foolish, and her eyes drifted over to Itachi, his calm face was lovingly bathed in the light from the street lamps as the car passed through them. For a moment she felt an overwhelming attraction and love for him and wondered nervously if she was beginning to follow the same flawed pattern as she did with Naruto.

It was sobering and a little frightening to her. In her mind and in her sight he was so wonderful it was hard for her to find any flaws in him.

Especially when he turned to her without preamble and asked quietly, "When are you going to see Naruto again?" Somehow she could tell he had already figured out what was already in her heart, and as usual he cut right to the chase with her. She didn't know why, but she was finding the way he rarely made small talk with her to be utterly charming and more than a little disconcerting.

It was almost as if they didn't need to talk much in order to be able to communicate with one another.

"I am going to drive out to his parent's house sometime in the morning, and try to talk to him and his parents," she told him and there was a small catch in her voice.

Itachi's hand tightened around hers with a small, but encouraging squeeze, knowing it was going to be difficult for her to talk to his parents. He could tell she was deeply attached to them.

"I have a feeling they are going understand, Hinata," he told her in a sympathetic voice.

Hinata closed her eyes painfully as she breathed out raggedly as the thought of his parents hating her would be a crushing blow to her. "I hope so."

* * *

Her hand shook as she knocked on the door of Naruto's parent's house and she quickly put her trembling hand at her side in a nervous manner. She was alone and had driven herself and her heart began to race when she heard footsteps sound inside near the door.

When the door opened and she saw it was Naruto her heart began to clench painfully. Her sorrowful eyes met and held his and for a moment they just looked at one another. It was as if they both were seeing each other with newly opened eyes.

Hinata thought he looked awful, his adorable face was drawn, and his normally bright blue eyes were bloodshot. With a sob in her throat she couldn't stop herself as she lurched forward into his comfortable arms, "I'm so sorry, Naruto! I never meant to hurt you."

For a moment he just stood there before his arms clutched around her tightly. "I know, Hinata, I believe you," he said in an emotionally clogged voice. He held her tightly to him, allowing the scent of lavender and flowers to envelop him as he savored the feel of her against him.

"I'm sorry too, they were all right about me, I didn't appreciate you," he admitted with an apology in his eyes.

Hinata's lip began to tremble as she fought back tears. He was making her feel guilty again. "I don't think you meant to, Naruto," she said almost reflexively, like it was a conditioned response in her.

He looked down at her and a sad smile touched his mouth, "You always make excuses for me - just accept this apology from me this time…okay?"

Her eyes widened at his new level of maturity, "Uh, okay."

Naruto stepped back and they both realized awkwardly the front door was still flung open and cold air was blowing into the house. She stepped inside and he shut the door while she slipped off her shoes and put on the comfortable house slippers she always wore when she came over there.

"What happened, Hinata?" He asked her quietly in a reluctant and stilted voice as he led her over to a small couch in the sitting room.

She told him everything about how she met Itachi and how they said goodbye to one another, until how they ended up meeting again. During her very apologetic explanation, she tried to be very sensitive of his feelings, and she didn't quite let him know just how much she cared for Itachi.

"Do you still love me, Hinata?" He asked with a thread of hope still in voice.

"I do," she responded softly, before looking away from him a little stiffly with very somber eyes.

She didn't have to say anything else, he understood from the way she couldn't look at him, he had lost his chance with her; she didn't love him enough to marry him.

After Sakura had kissed him, it made him realize that while he did desire Sakura a little, it was Hinata he truly loved and wanted to be with. He had been just too preoccupied with beating Sasuke to realize it at the time.

"Do you still want to cancel the wedding?" He asked her and tried to keep his voice carefully neutral.

Fresh tears began to fill her eyes, "Yes, I'm sorry. I can't…marry you…It w-wouldn't be right, I-I…lo-"

"You don't have to say it," he said cutting her off almost a little bitterly; he didn't want to hear _his_ name on her lips any more, it hurt too much. "I get it."

Kushina was in the hallway and tears were flowing down her face, she knew her son had always loved Hinata, but since he never had to work for her, he never appreciated her, until it was too late.

_I'm sorry Naruto,_ she told her son promising to help him get through this painful time in his life. She stepped around the corner and watched the blood drain from Hinata's already tear stained and pale face as she noticed her.

For a moment, Kushina just stared back at her in a still manner, before she opened her arms wide and called out with a slight tremor in her voice. "Come here, Hinata, I am not mad at you."

"Oh Mother," the younger woman cried out in a constricted voice as she was soon smothered in her warm embrace. Kushina's hand gently smoothed down her long silky hair like she was a small child, which made Hinata cry even harder.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean for it to happen…I just couldn't stop it," Hinata apologized brokenly.

"Love is just like that sometimes, Hinata," Minato said with a half-smile as he came up beside them. "When I fell in love with Kushina, it was like getting hit over the head with a blunt object. I never got over the dazed feeling," he joked trying to lighten the moment.

Kushina's bright eyes flashed with unwilling amusement, because truthfully love had hit them both very hard and suddenly, neither one of them ever did get over the feeling. Even after years of marriage they were still utterly insane about each other. That was the kind of marriage they had wanted for their son and Hinata.

A teary chuckle escaped Hinata before she turned into his fatherly hug. "I wanted you to be my father so much," she whispered to him as tears continued to fall, she had always longed for a kind, gentle father like him.

His blue eyes were filled with sadness glossy with unshed tears as he promised her, "I'll always be here if you need me."

As Hinata looked back at him she could tell he wasn't just saying that, he really meant it.

Kushina put her arms around her and hugged her tightly before scolding her husband, "Enough Minato, no more tears, we are going to have lunch together and enjoy the rest of the day."

Hinata followed her into the kitchen and they finished making lunch together while they talked about steps they needed to cancel the wedding. A lot of it her father was going to have to deal with and Hinata knew he was going to be overjoyed when he found out the news.

Before they set the food out in the dining room, Hinata just had to tell her, "Thank you Mother, if you hadn't asked Sakura to kiss Naruto, I would probably still be confused in my mind. I truly didn't understand the difference in the way I felt for Naruto versus what I feel for Itachi."

Kushina's gave her a bit of a wry smile. "I actually had her do it for all three of you. I only told Sakura it was for you, so she would go along with it, but I wanted her to figure out what her true feelings for Naruto were."

"She says she just wants to stay friends," Naruto told them as he stood just outside the kitchen and he looked at Hinata pointedly. "And I agree with her, besides she figured out she still likes that bastard Sasuke."

His eyes were filled with regret as he looked at her, what he wouldn't do to be able to go back a week or so and do things differently.

The doorbell rang and reluctantly he went to go get it, when he opened it he saw Sasuke was standing on the porch.

"What the hell do you want?" Naruto asked with openly hostile eyes. Part of him blamed Sasuke for what happened because he was the one who brought his brother home from America and put him in Hinata's path.

"I want to talk to you," Sasuke replied bluntly, he felt since Naruto was already dealing with the severe penalty of losing Hinata he didn't want to pile on by staying mad at him. Even though Naruto could be a clueless knucklehead at times he was still his best friend and he cared about him.

Naruto was actually very grateful Sasuke made was making the first move because if it was up to him he probably would have waited a month or two before contacting him. But a glance at Hinata as she was talking on her cell phone with a lovely, blushing smile on her face, made him realize he needed his best friend with him right now. Losing both of them would have been too heavy of a blow for him to handle.

"Come on in," he said gruffly as he opened the door and led Sasuke to the small sitting room where he had talked to Hinata earlier. Before they even got settled, Naruto said in a voice that was thick with remorse, "You were right about me, I didn't want you to have her, that's why I asked her out."

"I knew that, I just wanted you to take care of her," Sasuke admitted uncomfortably. "I shouldn't have confronted you in public in front of her and everyone."

Naruto shot him a small glare; his friend's actions did sting quite a bit. He looked over at Sasuke and saw he was staring over at Hinata's softly smiling face as she talked on the phone.

"Do you think I will be able to get her back?" Naruto asked as his eyes shifted back toward her.

There was a hint of compassion in Sasuke's eyes as he shook his head slowly. "It's too late now, look at her."

Naruto did and as he saw the way her face was nearly luminous as she talked to _him_. His shoulders sagged as he knew he would have to let her go. He finally realized he loved her enough to want her to be happy above all else.

Sasuke looked at his friend with approval in his eyes, "Why don't we call it even now. Neither one of us will have her, so we both lose."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Naruto admitted sadly. "I just want her to be happy."

"So do I," Sasuke agreed after releasing a short breath.

Kushina's voice called out to all of them to come have lunch and since they were all hungry they headed to the dining room.

* * *

Later after a long, and at times, awkward, lunch together, Hinata said goodbye to everyone, and after she spent some more time talking to Naruto alone, she was finally able to leave. Sasuke and Naruto made plans to play basketball later, and he decided to leave also to go get his stuff at his apartment. When Sasuke was about to open his car door she turned to him, and asked if she could talk to him for a moment.

"Okay," he said with a nondescript shrug as he leaned up against his black BMW.

"Um…I want to tell you thank you for watching over me and being a good friend to me for so long," she told him with a small bow of her head.

"I didn't do it out of friendship, Hinata," he admitted with frustrated eyes.

Her eyes were sorrowful as she stared back at him, "I know…I'm sorry I never noticed before, I just couldn't see anyone else besides Naruto."

"I know, and you don't have to apologize. Besides I didn't try more than a few times you see if you would notice me. I should have been more open with you," he confessed uncomfortably.

Hinata frowned as she wondered what would have happened if he had done that in the past. Would she have liked him? Probably, because she could tell deep down Sasuke was a kind person. But those thoughts were too late to consider now and she wanted to have a good relationship with him, with everything out in the open now that she was seeing his brother.

"Do you think you could try to be more open with me now," she asked him with serious eyes. "I can tell you are close to your brother and I don't want to do anything that would cause you problems or make you feel uncomfortable."

"If you are trying to ask if it bothers me that you are seeing Itachi, the answer is no. I want both of you to be happy. Especially him, he has always been a good brother to me."

Hinata breathed out in relief, she didn't want there to be any problems between them because of her. She also had a feeling she was going to be seeing a lot of both of them and she didn't want any awkwardness to hang over her relationship with Sasuke.

"Um Sasuke, do you think we could continue to stay good friends? I have always loved you as a friend and I enjoy spending time with you." Her eyes were soft and hopeful as she looked at him.

I would like that," he said quietly before a small frown slid over his brow as he just had to ask, "Hinata, how did you and my brother meet?"

A gorgeous and slightly embarrassed blush spread over her face as she admitted, "I was looking over the crowd while my father was speaking and I looked into your brother's eyes…" she said softly before giving him a helpless glance that said he probably wasn't going to believe her before she continued. "…and they were so vivid and intense, I couldn't look away from him. It was almost as if I could hear him tell me plainly, that…he loved me, and he always would, and he wanted me to be by his side forever."

Many things were going through Sasuke's mind as he heard this and he realized his brother had practically ambushed her at her own engagement party. All the years Sasuke spent hiding his feelings for her and doing nothing while his brother saw her only once, and came after her aggressively and openly, holding nothing back.

_Smart Bastard!_

He also suspected something else as he watched Hinata's face blush even deeper as she added candidly, "I was absolutely paralyzed by him, and I unwillingly felt myself respond like I had known and loved him all of my life. Then when he played the piano, there was something so intimate about it…it felt a little like he had just made love to me...in my mind," she said as her voice faded out in sheer embarrassment.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows as he realized what his reclusive, scientific brother had brazenly done in a room full of people. He had most likely used telepathic energy on her! He absolutely knew Itachi could do something like that, because when they were younger, Itachi had been curious about some of the more pseudo sciences, and had studied it and found there was actually some scientific validity in it.

They used to try talking to each other telepathically almost for fun, using only their minds and to their surprise; they found if people were compatible, it worked. Hinata's mind must be very compatible if he had been able to convey all of that to her.

"You don't believe me do you?" Hinata said weakly as she couldn't make eye contact with him and was still blushing. "I know it sounds silly, but that was how he made me feel."

Sasuke looked at her and he knew his brother was deeply in love with her, and the fact he went so far to get her attention proved it. But that didn't mean he wanted to make getting Hinata easy for him.

"I believe you; in fact, I think you should talk to Itachi, and make him tell you what he was thinking of at the time," he said almost sagely in his normal blunt voice while amusement lurked deep in his eyes.

"Um…okay, I will," she said while giving him her usual sweet smile. "So…you and I... we're good?"

He nodded, "Yes, Hinata, we're good," he said as he opened his car door. "I'll come over to practice for the charity event later after Naruto and I finish playing basketball."

"Okay," she told him happily as she started walking around her car and waved to him. "See you later."

Sasuke wasted no time calling his brother and after Itachi answered the phone he said, "I just learned something interesting from Hinata."

"What?" Itachi said warily.

"I learned how the two of you met."

"Oh that," Itachi said immediately tracking what he was saying. "I had to use it, she wouldn't have noticed me if I hadn't."

"And it didn't bother you she was engaged to be married?"

"No," Itachi replied simply. It wasn't as if he had manipulated her, he had simply told her how he felt about her. "If she had loved him more, he wouldn't have lost her."

"Yes," Sasuke agreed. "I told her to ask you about it. You were going to tell her right?"

Itachi sighed, "Yes, I am going to tell her." _Eventually._

"Liar," Sasuke said knowingly.

"Your correction is duly noted, Sasuke. I'll tell her," Itachi said before hanging up, knowing his brother obviously just made his life a lot more difficult on purpose because he didn't like what he had done. He had hoped to be able to tell her later down the road, and share his telepathic skill with her gradually, but now he had no choice but to come clean and tell her the truth.

**Author's Note:** Okay, so in my mind the whole premise of this story, love at first sight, to some degree is a stretch. I happen to believe in it, but not everyone does. I also believe that there are a lot of things in the world that are simply unexplainable. Anyway, in my mind it makes perfect sense for someone of Itachi's intelligence, scientific background, and because he is simply awesome to be able to believably have the ability to pull off what he did. I am curious what you guys think of the plot. Big hugs!

**Naruto Shippuden:** **(spoiler)** Episode 339, at first I was like wtf, they kept showing the Gokage fighting edo tensei Madara and then finally they showed Sasuke and Itachi and it looks like he will be around for a few more seconds in the next episode. But the scene with his parents was heart wrenching…so sad, I cried.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Huge thanks to: KoreanGal5, tactics2012, traciss, guests, Fujisan, Kia-B, aurora0914, fanofthisfiction, and xXYour DoomXx. Thanks for leaving me reviews! **

The weather outside was rainy and cold, but reclining comfortably in an overstuffed chair with a cozy blanket snuggled over her in her favorite room, the library, Hinata was trying her best to read a mystery novel and was failing miserably.

The story and the plot were actually fairly riveting and until recently it had kept her attention every time she had picked it up. But today she had other things on her mind and couldn't seem to do more than just stare sightlessly out the window and watch the raindrops slide aimlessly down the glass. The last few hours at Naruto's house had been infinitely difficult and painful for her. Her eyes darkened in sadness as she thought of the last hug Minato and Kushina had given her, they had been so understanding, so kind, just thinking about them was making her feel absolutely wretched for cancelling the wedding.

Naruto wanted her back, but she couldn't say yes to him. Not now, not after learning the life-altering truth about how she really felt about him. Her heart only longed for one person.

Itachi.

A week ago she had only known him as Sasuke's older brother in America, now he was gradually becoming the one person she needed the most. Knowing he was waiting for her had been the one thing that helped her through this horribly painful day. If there was anyone who could help her through this, it was him. Though she still barely knew him, something about his presence was peaceful; he soothed her psyche like still waters.

A movement near the doorway alerted her she wasn't alone and her heart leaped when she saw it was him. Her eyes swept over him hungrily and noticed his long dark hair was slightly damp from the rain outside. But he was such a sight for sore eyes, an unshadowed smile touched her face for the first time today as she stood up and raced over to him and into the warm sanctuary of his arms.

"I missed you," he murmured roughly against her hair as his arms tightened around her.

"I missed you too," she whispered as her eyes closed and she snuggled her face against his chest. She breathed in deeply the scent of him, he smelled like rain and that wonderfully fragrant masculine citrus shampoo he used.

"How are you holding up?"

She breathed out an emotional breath and tried to be strong, "Better now you're here…but, oh Itachi, it was so hard…I'd wanted them to be my parents so much," her shoulders began to shake in an effort to hold back tears.

His hand tenderly smoothed her hair down and his eyes were soft and understanding as he looked at her pale face.

He tucked her in close to him for several minutes comforting her before he asked, "Do you want to go practice now?" He had a lot of things he wanted to discuss with her, but he decided to wait until later, when she was more emotionally calm.

For the next couple hours music turned out to be a wonderful distraction and they found they were steadily improving their timing together. Their instruments were beginning to flow together beautifully to create a sound that was truly special.

A few times while they were playing Hinata couldn't help but notice a strange sensation and it was almost as if inside her head her brain was being nudged. She looked over at Itachi a few times and found he had been staring at her with eyes she was beginning to recognize as his observant scientist eyes.

A half smile touched her mouth as she wondered if she was just imagining things today.

She was a half second late with her flute part and her eyes sent him a swift apology. Skipping a few notes he quickly adjusted the tempo of his playing to compensate. Hinata found she was beginning to appreciate how effortlessly brilliant he was, she had never been partnered with someone as talented as he was and she absolutely adored the sound of his piano.

More like she was in love with it, she didn't think she could ever grow tired of listening to it, her eyes slid over in his direction as she first admired the way his long bangs fell around his face while he played before her glance settled on his hands as they glided easily over the piano.

His touch on the keys was so sensitive and sure, then strong and powerful, with perfect timing. He had surprised her when he told her he hardly ever practiced it, but only played when he was struggling with a problem or had a lot of stress at work to deal with.

Her mind automatically began to imagine being able to hear him play to her in the future on a daily basis and a fierce sense of joy began to sweep over her. She lifted delighted eyes toward his face and smiled, completely forgetting to play her flute and a few seconds later, he stood up abruptly and pulled her against him, while he began kissing her stunned, upturned face. His lips moved over hers in a tender, hungry, yearning way while her mouth gradually softened under his. Her arms reached up a few moments later and her fingers threaded around his shoulders.

His arms crushed her to him as his mouth slid back and forth over hers, shaping her mouth to his in an endless kiss that left both of them nearly breathless. When he lifted his mouth off of hers, his eyes were nearly black like melted ink as he looked down at her.

"Am I rushing you too much?" he asked her in a slightly husky voice as his hands slid in a caressing motion down her back. His dark eyes were warm, but still concerned as he looked into her half-dazed ones.

"Yes," she whispered with shaky honesty as his enticing mouth was only a fraction away and she could feel his breath almost mingle with hers. Her mind was reeling as she felt torn between the intensity of her body's longing for him and her mind's cautious inclination to go slow at this point in their relationship.

"I'm sorry; but I don't have a lot of time to wait," he said with eyes filled with regret.

Becoming more alert by the second, she asked, "Why not, do you have to go back to America right away?"

"Yes, fairly soon," he answered indeterminately before he said seriously, "There are some things I need to talk to you about."

At the mere thought or very mention of him having to leave right away and going so far away made her fingers tighten convulsively around his waist.

"What kind of things?" She asked slowly as he began to lead her over to one of the couches after she sat down she looked over at him with an expectant look on her face.

Outwardly Itachi's eyes were calm, but an anxious tension lurked in them as he tried to gauge her mood, "I'd like to talk about us, and there are some things I need to tell you."

It was a strange thing for her to hear the term _us_ as it applied to them, for so long _us_ meant her with Naruto, her eyes became shadowed before she looked away from him.

Itachi looked at her and internally weighed the options of waiting for a better time get everything out in the open and he realized it would be for the best just to get it over with, to give her more time to adjust.

"Does the thought of you and me together frighten you?" He asked her astutely with a slight frown.

"Yes… a little," she admitted a little hesitantly before explaining, "There is something almost... too perfect... about the way we fit together. For instance, I can't picture myself ever arguing with you like normal couples do."

"I agree," Itachi stated with a small smile as the thought of arguing with her did seem ridiculous and highly unlikely. "You and I are remarkably compatible on just about every level I can determine."

A slight blush came over her cheeks as she had to admit they certainly were compatible, especially on a physical and on a personality level but her innate sense of honesty forced her to add, "I know, but is everything really as simple as it seems between us? Um, I love you…and you love me and we never have had to speak the words out loud to know it…we just do."

"It is simple for me, I do love you and have from the moment I saw you," Itachi said before admitting, "…however, I think for you it was the second time you saw me that you started to notice me."

Hinata looked at him with puzzled eyes, "What do you mean?"

Itachi faced her a little uneasily. "The first time you looked out over the crowd your eyes passed right by me, so the second time you looked near me I made sure you noticed me."

She shook her head a little as she tried to remember ever seeing him before in the crowd, and she couldn't. "What did you do?"

He looked into her eyes and she felt a strange impression, it was like a lovely, but subtle touch inside of her mind. "Itachi?" She looked at him with somewhat shocked eyes.

"The human mind is capable of absorbing energy at the basal level, as well as sending and receiving thoughts. Many consider it to be pseudo-science, but the phenomenon has been proven scientifically to exist, especially between people with similar energy signatures, like you and I have," he explained trying to break it down in its simplest terms for her.

"Are you trying to tell me you used a form of telepathy on me?" She asked feeling a little upset by what he was revealing to her.

"Yes, I made eye contact with you and sent my thoughts to you as intentionally as I could. If you and I had not been compatible you would have not noticed."

Hinata's eyes were pensive as began to understand what happened. "At the time it seemed like I could hear you."

Itachi's intelligent eyes opened slightly in interest. "You actually heard me in an audible voice? That anomaly is very rare. Sasuke and I have been communicating telepathically for many years and we have only heard words only on a few occasions and they were in emergency situations. Normally, it is only possible to transmit impressions or thoughts on a very basic level."

"Yes, you said you loved me, and always would, and you wanted me by your side forever," she said quietly.

His eyes were very still, unreadable almost, but his voice was quietly emotional as he said, "I meant every word of it."

"I know…" she said softly and her eyes grew tender as she looked at him, "…and I couldn't help but love you back."

A small but content smile touched his mouth before he said, "I could tell, when I played piano to you by the way you received it."

A wave of warmth and some embarrassment crashed over her as she bit her lip and as she figured out what he did while he played piano during her engagement party.

"It was a proposal, I was asking you to marry me when I played to you," he admitted without shame.

Hinata felt herself unconsciously melt, but she also realized and was a little shocked that he was absolutely unapologetic about the fact that he had done it while she had been engaged to another man. "Itachi, why did you do such a thing at my engagement party of all places?"

_Temporary insanity_, he mused to himself. "I didn't think for once, I just acted," he said a little wryly as his eyes watched her closely to determine her mood. "…and when I played the piano, I just wanted to let you know how I felt before I left and never saw you again."

"I thought I was going to die when I heard you play, it was so painful, so full of love, it moved me," she said in a voice slightly above a whisper.

"I didn't want to leave you," he admitted somberly as he pulled her in his arms.

"But you are going to have to leave me aren't you?" she said as her sad eyes met his firmly.

"Yes, I received a call today from my employer, the last phase of the research starts in a few weeks," he told her and something about the stillness of his eyes and body language told her it was very important to him.

"How long will you be gone?" She asked quietly and could feel the bottom dropping out of her world again at the thought of him leaving.

"Anywhere from three to six months depending on how the testing goes and what the results are," he explained a little relieved as he could tell she understood how important the job was to him. His eyes were apologetic as his hand smoothed her hair gently down her back. "When it is over, I will come back to Japan or if you want or you can come with me overseas."

Hinata's mind was in a freefall, but she knew one thing was for certain she couldn't leave Japan right now, Hanabi was due to graduate next summer in six months and she knew she had to be there for her while she was still in school.

"I will wait for you to come back from America and we can get married then," she said to him in a slightly overwhelmed voice as everything was just happening too fast for her.

He held her and looked at her, knowing this was a lot for her to take in all at once, his eyes were filled with an apology and love as he asked, "Would you consider getting married before I leave?"

Hinata's heart began to race as his question caught her completely off-guard, her eyes flew to his, "Itachi?"

There was raw need on his face as he stared back at her, but his voice was infinitely patient as he said, "I will give you time to think it over...as much as you need."

She clasped him to her in relief and held him close as she promised, "I will think it over and answer you soon."

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much to all of you who are still reading, I have a feeling quite a few of you didn't like the telepathy plot, but for the record I don't plan to play that aspect of their relationship much past this chapter. Anyway, there are probably 2 more chapters to go before I finish this one. Please let me know if you are still reading this. Thanks to everyone who left me feedback, I appreciated your comments greatly. Hugs.

**Naruto Shippuden Anime:** (Spoiler) Episode 340, Itachi's face when he ascended up as a spirit was some of the most beautiful animation I have seen in that show. The emotion on his face and Sasuke's face was very touching.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

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**Many awesome thanks to: **kandita, Fujisan, In your dreams, fanofthisfiction, traciss, Fierian Ra, Dani Stark, xXYour DoomXx, Kia-B, tactics2012, Kibachow, wicked ashes, guest, and aurora0914. I appreciate your thoughts and reviews so much!

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It was Monday morning, and back to work for Hinata after having a tumultuous three day break. As she opened the door to her small office with her key, she could feel the front of her cream colored silk blouse sticking uncomfortably to her chest. A co-worker had accidentally spilled coffee down the front of her shirt in the too-crowded elevator. There was a slight burn that stung a little, but it was the fact that she had a conspicuous dark stain blemishing her normally tidy appearance at work that was bothering her more than anything.

She tried to put it out of her mind as she put her purse away and turned her computer on. Her eyes immediately shifted to her desk calendar and her eyes clouded with sadness when she saw a few weeks in the future she had circled a date with a large heart around it, it was the day she had planned to marry Naruto.

Her ecstatic father had already cancelled the hall where the ceremony was supposed to be held, as well as the elegant hotel for the reception. He was gleefully wasting no time, even though he was losing a substantial amount of money on some of the non-refundable deposits he had made.

Hinata was purposely keeping silent about her relationship with Itachi and his proposal to her father. She had a feeling he was becoming too enamored with the idea of having him for a son in law that there was no telling what lengths he would be willing to go to see them get married quickly.

Itachi had given her space on Sunday and had stayed at his apartment, he told her he had some work to take care of. She was grateful for the time alone, it gave her some time to mourn, reflect on and settle into all of the losses and changes that have happened so suddenly in her life.

Distance from him was both a blessing and a curse. Being away from him gave her clarity of thought, allowing her to examine their fledgling relationship more rationally in a way that simply wasn't possible when she was with him. When she was with him, she couldn't look at him enough or stop herself from wanting to be in his arms.

Last night she missed him so much it had been rough and she felt so restless she almost cried when he called her at two in the morning. He knew she would be up and she could hear the tender smile in his voice when he told her to go to sleep before he said good night in a calm manner and hung up.

A soft smile slid over her face and a quiet sense of joy enveloped her as she couldn't wait to see him again. They were planning to meet up to practice after work, and in her mind the day couldn't end soon enough.

The phone on her desk rang jarring her back to the present and reluctantly she put her attention back where it belonged, on work.

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Naruto released a deep breath as he opened the door to the waiting room outside her office. It was nearly lunch-time and almost out of habit he ended up there. Not quite, but he needed to see her again, the weekend had been a form of living hell without her.

On Saturday night after playing basketball, he and Sasuke went out for drinks and as usual every female and some guys too were drooling over his friend and making moves on him.

He had to admit, plenty of females wanted him too, but he wasn't interested. They weren't Hinata; they didn't have her sweet gentleness or her sincere eyes.

_Damn it! _

He didn't know what to do with himself now that she was gone. Hinata had been one of the true constants in his life, always there for him, no matter what.

Now she was gone and that bastard Sasuke kept telling him to just accept it, because his Nii-san would take care of her. It riled Naruto to just let her go; Sasuke's brother was a complete asshole in his mind.

After all, who goes after someone's fiancé during their engagement party?

Only a total jerk would do such a thing and Naruto knew Sasuke practically worshiped the ground his brother walked on. Deep down it always made him a little jealous the admiring way his best friend talked about his genius older brother, like he was just a few levels below god or something.

Naruto had watched as Sasuke got heavily drunk and ended up leaving with some random chick as his way of dealing with it all, but Naruto just couldn't let it go.

He knew Hinata loved him still… she admitted as much to him, maybe she was just getting cold feet or it was just attraction. When she confronted him the other night at the bar, he had been in shock, but now that he had time to think about it all more clearly, it was all beginning to piss him off.

How could he lose her so quickly after she had loved him for so long?

It didn't make sense to him, especially now that he knew how much she meant to him.

He needed more time to accept it and his blue eyes were stubborn as they kept watch on her closed door and waited for her to come out.

* * *

Finally all of her morning appointments were over. There had been a lot of the usual trouble makers and various employee problems she had to deal with, and her face was gentle, but firm as she handed the last one an appointment card to go to sensitivity training and watched as the young employee left her office.

After taking a long sip of cool water, her eyes automatically shifted to her cell phone and she was about to check some of the incoming text messages when someone knocked on her open door. For a moment she hoped it was Itachi, but that was quickly dashed when she saw it was Naruto.

Her eyes clouded nervously as she took in his slightly stormy eyes and the stubborn line of his mouth, she could tell he obviously needed to talk to her some more. For a moment there was an awkward tension between them as they just stared at one another.

"Do you have time to go to lunch with me?"

Hinata's eyes filled with compassion as she heard the slightly pleading tone of his voice, "Of course." A small frazzled sigh escaped her as she gathered her purse and put her long coat on and wished she had brought a scarf with her because some of the horrid dark stain was still visible on the front of her shirt.

As she locked her office door, her eyes were pensive, she didn't quite know what to say to him, she'd thought she had gotten through to him that it was over and her heart sank as she had a feeling he didn't quite get the message.

Her eyes closed slowly, still feeling raw and bruised by the break-up, she hated to hurt him anymore, but she knew she had to get through to him somehow.

Her upcoming task was made more difficult as her eyes shifted toward him and she saw the look of longing in his eyes as he gazed at her. She had never seen him look at her that way before and it was disconcerting and a little heartbreaking.

_I'm so sorry Naruto_, she thought painfully as she turned to him and said quietly, "Okay, I'm ready to go now."

They were both uncomfortably and reflectively silent as they walked down the hallway to the elevator. Once inside after pushing the button Naruto turned to her, his blue eyes were troubled as he blurted out, "I'm sorry, I had to see you - I just need to talk this out some more with you."

Hinata nodded sadly, "I understand, we'll go somewhere and talk."

The elevator doors opened, and out of habit, Naruto put his hand on the small of her back as he walked beside her. They began crossing the large open entrance area and Hinata felt her heart drop into her stomach when she saw Itachi come through the revolving glass doors.

Her eyes immediately darted beside her as she could feel Naruto's hand tense on her back and she reminded him urgently in a whisper, "Please Naruto, not here, I'm at work."

She looked in front of her and could see Itachi walking toward them, and her heart began to race afraid there was going to be an ugly confrontation just like there was the other night.

"I'm not here to fight with the bastard, I just wanted to see you," Naruto told her harshly in her ear before he stopped and glared stubbornly at the man who stole his fiancé from him.

Even in this tense situation Hinata couldn't stop her eyes from gravitating to Itachi and admiring his unhurriedly fluid stride noting as usual he looked amazing in business casual with a slate blue shirt and a flawless long, black tailored coat with a dark gray scarf around his neck. Her eyes flew toward his and saw he and Naruto were staring at each other.

Relief flooded her when she saw Itachi's eyes were calm without even a hint of jealousy or animosity in them.

His eyes turned dismissive though as he gave Naruto one last look before turning to Hinata, "I tried to text you to let you know I was coming by." He moved so he was standing very close to her.

Mystery solved as she now knew who had been trying to text her. "I'm sorry, I didn't get a chance to check my phone," she said while her eyes were quietly grateful for his understanding of the situation.

"No problem, I just wanted to let you know I have symphony tickets for tonight," he said as he placed his hand gently over her arm and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Standing beside Hinata, Naruto snorted bitterly at how damn fast of a worker the Uchiha bastard was. _Symphony…oh please._

_Asshole_, his eyes narrowed as he inwardly seethed.

Hinata only had eyes for Itachi as she gave him a luminous smile, "Alright, I'll call you later."

"Okay," he said and his face softened as he began to unravel his scarf slowly from around his neck.

Hinata was practically hypnotized as she watched him smile faintly before he unexpectedly wrapped his scarf intimately around her neck and deftly tied a simple knot to cover up the stain on the front of her shirt.

His silky bangs were nearly touching her heated face as he bent his head slightly towards her while his hands straightened the scarf and patted it down. His eyes were warm as they caught hers and held them for a quietly intense moment before he said, "I'll see you later."

Hinata's breath trembled in her throat as she nodded at him, feeling close to melting as the expensive scarf around her neck smelled enticingly like him and it surrounded her neck with his warmth.

Itachi's eyes flashed dark steel in Naruto's direction before he turned and strode calmly away.

"What an asshole," Naruto ground out under his breath as he watched Hinata follow the Uchiha jerk's progress with shining eyes as he left the building.

"Did you say something," Hinata asked a little breathlessly as she turned to him and his fists clenched at his side when he saw her face was flushed. A sinking feeling was forming in his gut as he was beginning to wonder if Sasuke had been right and it was too late. He could sense there was a disconcerting closeness between the two that was so obvious it was almost palatable.

"Never mind," he said a little huffily and his hand was firm as he tried to place it behind her like he normally did. Hinata stiffened slightly before she put some distance between them as they started walking.

They were about a half a block down the street when a small amount of dismay flashed over her eyes when she saw he was automatically heading toward his favorite ramen restaurant. Even though she had reached her limit on eating the stuff about a month ago, she decided to just go along with him and eat it one last time.

Naruto turned to her and shocked her when he asked almost as an afterthought as they stood in front of the door, "Do you mind if we eat ramen or do you want something else?"

"Ramen is fine," she said slowly with a weak smile.

Naruto looked at her closely before he said flatly, "You really don't like ramen do you."

Hinata's eyes were deeply apologetic as she said, "Um…I used to, but we just had it too often."

A gleam of frustration passed over his blue eyes before he started leading her to a different restaurant a couple doors down that served a variety of different entree's for lunch. "How come you never said anything to me about it before?"

She sighed and her eyes were candid as she looked at him, "I didn't want to complain, I just wanted to make you happy."

As they sat down behind an empty table, his eyes grew increasingly unsettled as he tried to think of a time when she actually complained or wanted to choose a place to go to and he couldn't think of a single instance. Almost every time they went somewhere she always just went along with whatever he wanted, and he had been too dense to notice.

The waitress came over and took their orders and he just pointed to a random noodle dish on the lunch menu. His eyes followed her as she politely ordered sushi off of the menu and a cup of hot green tea.

Sasuke and the others had been right all along, he never did bother to ask her about her thoughts or anything, he just blindly assumed because she agreed to go along with him on everything, she liked the same things as he did.

Hinata sipped her tea and could see his brain working and she took compassion on him and placed her hand gently over his. "I made a lot of mistakes in our relationship too, Naruto. I should have been more open with you."

Naruto was mystified as he looked at her, "I thought we were so happy, what went wrong?"

Hinata eyes shifted toward the table in front of them as she didn't know how to answer him without hurting his feelings. She knew the answer, and over the weekend as she had time to reflect on it she realized painfully that she had outgrown Naruto.

"I wasn't completely unhappy, I'm just not comfortable with confrontations," she tried to explain to him.

He released a ragged and frustrated sigh, "You should have just told me, you know how I am. I argue with everyone!"

"Well, I don't," she said with a quiet finality that spoke volumes to him.

Naruto looked into her eyes and a grim line came over his mouth, "Are you going to marry him?"

Her eyes were laced with sorrow for hurting him, but her voice was firm, "Yes, I am."

"What? You just met him and you're going to marry him?" He asked her in disbelief. "That was fast," he muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"We're not getting married right away, and he has to go back to America for a while," Hinata reluctantly admitted and her manner was growing stiff as she didn't want to discuss this with him anymore. It was just too painful for both of them.

Naruto's eyes swept over her and he realized belatedly there was a bit of a stubborn streak in Hinata he had never noticed before. She had always been so soft and malleable for him, he didn't realize how strong she was once she made up her mind.

Well he recognized it now, and his stomach began to twist almost bitterly into painful knots as he looked at her, "We're really over, aren't we?"

There were tears in her eyes as she nodded and said softly, "Yes."

After that they ate their lunches in an awkward, painful silence and neither one of them offered to try to be friends, because at this point it would still be too difficult to even attempt it.

When he stood up to leave his eyes were filled with regret and he couldn't hide all of the bitterness as he still felt a little blindsided by all of it. As they looked at each other they both knew it would be long while before they would be able to meet again as friends.

But both of them hoped deep in their hearts they would be able to move past this someday.

"I'll see you around," Naruto said in a soft, rough voice after giving her one last poignant look.

Hinata nodded because of the emotional lump in her throat, and as she watched him walk out of the restaurant, she whispered achingly, "Goodbye Naruto."

**Author's Note:** I felt like I needed to have better closure with Naruto and Sasuke too, so that's how I came up with this chapter. I am not sure how many chapters there will be from here on out, but we are definitely getting close to the end. I want to have Hinata go out on a date with Itachi in the next chapter.

In case any of you wonder, Sasuke is not going to be paired up with anyone in this story. Big holiday hugs to all of you!


	15. Chapter 15

**A Simple Affair**

**Chapter 15**

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**AN and warning: **Lots of fluff and affection in this chapter. There will be no lemons in this story, and this chapter will probably be the only one that might make some people uncomfortable. Feel free to avoid it, because it is mainly for fun and in terms of plot development just shows they are growing closer.

**Thanks so much:** wicked ashes, Sesshomarus'Luver, Fujisan, traciss, guests, aurora0914, Kibachow, fanofthisfiction, PuppetPrince, Dani Stark, Kagome718, xXYour DoomXx, Kia-B. Your comments were great in the last chapter and Kibachow, I'm sorry I can't give Hinata to Sasuke too. I am considering writing an alternate version or ending to this story that is Sasuhina.

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Walking down the long hallway of the university music department practice area Itachi could hear the faint sounds of various instruments being played as he passed by the rooms. As he headed toward the last room down the hall he could hear the haunting sound of a flute and unexpectedly he felt his heart begin to beat unsteadily in anticipation of seeing her again.

Quickening his pace only a few moments passed before he opened the door and while he set his things down and the shopping bag he brought with him on a chair his dark eyes impatiently sought her out in the sparsely furnished room.

He spotted her in the corner near the grand piano and something akin to relief or contentment slid over him when his glance met hers.

Hinata bit her lower lip uneasily as she stared back at him as her mind automatically shifted back to their uncomfortably tense meeting earlier in the day with Naruto at her work.

"I won't be seeing him again," she promised him quietly as her anxious eyes devoured the sight of him. The last few hours at work had been so long they were almost painful.

Itachi had been fully expecting Naruto to seek Hinata out some more, if it had been him he wouldn't have given her up easily either. A small understanding look touched his face and the sweetly poignant answering smile she gave him told him everything he needed to know about how her meeting with Naruto went.

His pathway to Hinata was absolutely free and clear now.

And there was nothing holding either one of them back as they rushed forward into each other's arms. Her breath was shaky in her throat as a profusion of emotions swept over her when she felt his arms crush her tightly to him, and his needy mouth search hers out and begin to move over it almost as if she was as necessary to him as the air he breathed.

Their insistent mouths reflected their nearly intoxicating passion for one another as their previously restrained brains finally caught up to the subtle shift in their relationship their bodies had known existed between them all along.

With unerring accuracy he didn't break contact with her enticing mouth while he guided them backwards to the long rectangular seat in front of the piano. Settling down on it their bodies shifted accordingly to allow closer access to one another while his hand was buried sensuously deep in the long tresses of her silky hair and curved around the nape of her neck while his fingers stroked it softly. His other hand drifted endlessly down her spine, the indistinct caressing pressure behind it drawing her ever closer to him.

When he felt her legs wrap around his waist and her full, soft breasts were pressing up against his chest, some blessedly stray thought of sanity made him tear his mouth off of hers and stare at her while he sought to take control of his rapid breathing.

His glittering, nearly black eyes roamed over her flushed and glowing face and lavender eyes warmed with desire and temptingly swollen mouth. "This is insanity," he whispered unevenly before dragging an open mouthed kiss hotly over hers.

A small moan/giggle escaped her as she clung to him and couldn't help but mindlessly agree with him that what was happening to them was dangerously close to careening out of control. But for once, part of her utterly didn't care; it was as if that little voice in her head that told her she was doing something reckless was temporarily disabled.

Another part of her mind had absolute trust in him, he knew the boundaries that she had set in place and she knew he would stop when he felt it was necessary for them to do so, because they were both aware of the fact she simply wasn't emotionally ready to take such a physical step forward. However until he reached that limit, she was almost euphorically going to enjoy every minute of it.

Several heedless moments later he lifted his passionately swollen mouth off of hers and his eyes as he looked at her were filled with a mixture of amused disbelief that he had allowed himself to lose his mind like that. Self-control was one of the hallmark principles that guided his life up until this point.

Hinata's dazed eyes finally came into focus several moments later and she smiled when she saw the gleam of enlightened amusement lurking in his eyes as he looked at her. "What is it?"

A wry smile glanced off of his mouth before he responded, "I believe you and I are in the throes of a fairly potent chemical reaction, one that I have only studied, but never experienced before."

She looked up at him with hazy eyes, having a feeling she knew the answer to what he was talking about, but it seemed utterly out of reach as her sluggish mind searched for it. "Huh?"

"Love," Itachi replied simply while his eyes met hers with a warm, teasing light in them.

Her breath became a softly smiling sigh, and her spine began to melt languidly when she felt his hands glide slowly up and down her back as he leaned intimately close to her and explained, "Being with one's lover, especially in the beginning of a relationship, triggers a response in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, which releases a flood of the neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain's pleasure centers, the caudate nucleus and the nucleus accumbens."

To accentuate his alluring point further he gave in to the insane craving to taste more of her sweet lips, before he slid his warm mouth with delicately, tasting slowness over her face to her ear while he breathed in the flowery scent of her skin. "It's not unlike the feeling of euphoria an addict to narcotics experiences after taking drugs."

Feeling like she felt like she could easily relate to those poor drug addicts, Hinata's face and whole body began to flush hotly as she felt her head float deliciously back against his hand that was settled behind her neck. Righting herself with some effort she was face to face to his intelligent eyes and his mouth was so intoxicatingly close to hers she longed to taste him. "So addicting," she murmured a little incoherently while her eyes began to fill with wonder at what she was experiencing with him. Kissing and being around Naruto never made her feel this way.

"Exactly," Itachi said with a hint of amused empathy in his voice while he placed her hand directly over his heart and she could feel it racing beneath her palm. Her eyes were soft and she was quietly overjoyed by the effect she had on him. He always seemed to be so self-assured and calm all of the time, but he obviously wasn't right now, and he wanted her to know it.

"Norepinephrine," he explained before expelling a small ragged breath. "It increases heart rate and blood pressure; the effects are similar to using stimulants like methamphetamine."

Curious and fascinated not only by what he was telling her, but also by the unusually light mood he was in she asked, "What causes this crazy feeling of recklessness?"

He lifted a knowing eyebrow, "You mean the fact that we are in a semi-private room at your father's university and neither one of us seems to care if someone walks in on us?"

A deep flush came over her face while she lowered her eyes in smiling embarrassment, "Yes, something like that."

"The prefrontal cortex and amygdala control the brain's reasoning command and threat-response system. They both rev down causing a person to be willing to take more risks than they normally would."

As she looked at him and took in the tenderness of his smile and the warmth of his eyes she began to think her brain was on the verge of completely shutting down. Her eyes wandered over and adored him, almost helpless to stop herself her hands smoothed his shiny dark hair away from his face.

Savoring her gentle touch his eyes closed slowly while her fingers tenderly caressed his jawline. She loved every flawless detail of him, and had never in her life wanted to touch someone like this or hold onto a moment longer than she did this one.

Yet, some tiny part of her brain was still functioning and a thought was nagging at her mind as she had to ask him in a semi-serious manner, "So, are you saying to me you don't believe in love… you think it is all just a chemical reaction?"

He released a small snort as he thought about the messy love triangle they had just went through, with all of the jealousy, pain and the fact that even his own brother had been hurt by it. Love was a very complicated emotion. In the end he had been the lucky one she had chosen. When he looked at her not even a trace of his earlier teasing remained in his eyes.

"I believe in it. No scientist alive would be able to credibly disprove it exists," he admitted as he looked at her with unveiled eyes, not bothering to hide even an ounce of the love he felt for her.

"It's real to me too," she whispered as her heart felt so full and touched by him she almost needed to hug herself to contain it all, instead she flung herself against his chest and snuggled her face against him.

As she held onto him the moment felt bittersweet to her, she felt more than a little guilty being so utterly happy when others had been hurt because she chose Itachi and her eyes were sadly reflective as she breathed out a little emotionally.

In tune with her mood Itachi smoothed her long hair down her back and held her quietly for a few moments knowing this past week and a half had been difficult for her. He also knew in the future it wasn't going to be easy for them either with him leaving to go back to America soon.

He planned to discuss it all with her in the near future, he just didn't want to this evening. He wanted her to enjoy the date he had planned out for her.

His eyes glanced at the time and he said, "We should probably try to run through the music once before we leave."

"Okay," she said in a more subdued manner than earlier, but soon after playing music with him her happy mood began to be restored somewhat. Especially since the sound of his piano always just made her feel so full of joy.

The other thing that made her smile was the fact that her mouth felt oddly dry and uncomfortable. She realized it had been the first time in her life she had ever kissed someone so much it made it difficult for her to play the flute. Kushina's words about being in love with a person and wanting to be with them all of the time, floated in her mind and she realized the older woman's words had been extremely true.

After completely missing her flute part, Itachi stopped playing and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

A slight blush came over her face as she bit her lower lip in an unconsciously provocative way as she admitted in a soft, slightly abashed voice, "My mouth is a little sore."

A tiny amused gleam touched his eyes as they glanced at her still swollen and very kissable mouth. He was a 27 year old, sexually-experienced man, and she was making him feel like he was a hormonally charged, pubescent teenager with only one thing on his mind and it was making him unusually uncomfortable, but he realized there was something almost fun about it too.

An oddly serious look passed over his face as he realized fun wasn't something he really had much experience with in life, especially not lately with his job or life before he met her.

However, his face reflected none of those thoughts as he asked, "Do you want to stop playing?"

Hinata smiled as she shook her head dutifully, the performance was in a couple of days. It was important for them to practice. She decided to get a drink of water and see if that helped. It did, and when she was done drinking and because she couldn't resist doing it, she leaned over and kissed him in a lingering manner.

When she lifted her mouth off of his a teasing light in was in his dark eyes as he said softly, "If I didn't know any better, I would say you are a bit of a masochist."

A surprised laugh bubbled out of her as she felt herself being pulled down onto his lap for some more pain. As she slid her hands over his chest, Hinata found the muscles in her face were also starting to hurt from her effort to stifle the smile that was growing over her mouth while she delightedly kissed him back.

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**Author's Note:** Sorry about the pacing, there will be a part two of their date because this chapter went on so long. I personally needed to write something light and fluffy after all of the angst in this story. Big hugs and please keep the comments and reviews coming, I love hearing from all of you.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

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**Special thanks to: **fanofthisfiction, Lady Crack, traciss, anonnie, Kibachow, xXYour DoomXx, tactics2012, Fierian Ra, Dani Stark, aurora0914, Kagome718 and Kia-B. I am glad most of you liked the fluff, it was so fun to write. Hugs dears.

**Chapter music: **Please listen to **Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor, Op. 18 **(Pull it up on YT - you will love it!) The whole thing is about 34 minutes long, but it is worth it to listen to all of it. Or if that is too long, just listen to the first movement which is about 11 minutes long, it will enhance the story because you will hear how difficult the song is for the piano.

* * *

It was official - he was insane. There was no doubt about it and he should know being one of the world's foremost experts on the brain. Though externally he appeared calm, almost to the point of being serene as his steps were sure and steady, his heart began to race in his chest as he stepped out under the bright lights and on to the stage. A polite smile graced his composed face as he bowed to the conductor, the orchestra and then to the audience.

He was about to perform one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in front of a crowd of over two thousand people just because he didn't want her to be disappointed on their date.

Yes, it was official, and perhaps deep down he was an even bigger masochist than he had teased her about being…or perhaps not, he preferred being considered temporarily deranged better. Regardless, here he was on the verge of doing something foolish on a spectacular level and it all started like this…

(A half an hour earlier, just before 7:00pm in the evening)

"I'm so glad we aren't late," Hinata said in a relieved voice as he guided her to her seat in the huge concert hall. Her mood was quietly ebullient as her sparkling violet eyes alighted toward the stage after she settled down in her seat next to his. It had been long time since she had been to the symphony; it really hadn't been Naruto's thing so they usually went to other types of events, such as movies and sports.

"It should be starting any time now," Itachi observed as he watched the orchestra begin warming up on stage. Idly, he picked up the pamphlet that had been given to him near the front doors and his eyes opened slightly when he recognized the name of the conductor, Seiji Ozawa.

He had actually met the brilliant older man in Boston when he had performed as a guest conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra a few years ago. They were both foreigners abroad from Japan, and occasionally when his tight schedule permitted, Itachi found it interesting to meet with people from his homeland; it helped him feel less homesick. Somehow Itachi had ended up playing the piano for him after the performance and over the past few years they met up for drinks whenever Seiji was conducting in Boston.

Glancing over at her out of the corner of his eye he made up his mind to introduce her to him after the concert was over and he wrote a short note and gave it to one of the ushers to take back stage to his friend. A few moments later he was surprised when his phone rang, he didn't expect to hear back from him so soon, especially since the concert was supposed to have started five minutes ago.

"Itachi," Seiji said in rushed greeting. "I didn't know you were in Japan."

"I've been here for a few weeks now visiting my family," he responded cautiously as something in the older man's voice was setting off alarm bells in his head.

There was a pause before the conductor asked a little desperately, "You wouldn't be able to help me out…would you? Our pianist, Olga, ate some bad sushi earlier, and she can't perform tonight."

Itachi turned toward Hinata in order to gauge her reaction to the news, "The concert is going to be cancelled tonight."

Disappointed, her face fell like a stone sinking to the bottom of a pond, she had been really looking forward to it, and Rachmaninoff was one of her favorite composers.

"Oh well, we can just go out to dinner or something," she said in a falsely cheerful voice trying to be positive and make the best of a bad situation. The smile she gave him was several watts dimmer than it usually was.

Itachi sighed and looked away from her as his mouth twisted dryly knowing he was about to do something utterly crazy for her. It didn't take a genius to figure out she had been really looking forward to tonight's performance.

He turned his head away from her. "Don't cancel it, I'll do it," he spoke quietly into the phone to his friend so she wouldn't overhear him.

"Then get over here right now, I'll go talk to security," the old man said in the relieved voice of a person whose ass has just been saved big time. "Thanks Itachi, I owe you," he said before hanging up.

Itachi looked at his phone with numb eyes as he hung it up and expelled a long breath as the full scope of what he had just recklessly committed himself to was beginning to manifest fully in his brain.

Hinata bit her lip in that enticing way she had before she asked, "Is everything alright, Itachi?"

His half lidded eyes were warm as he leaned over and gave her a tender, but quick kiss. "I'll be right back," Itachi promised in a carefully neutral voice while he handed her his cell phone to hold onto for him. As he stood up to leave he had a feeling he was about to give her the surprise of a lifetime. Though he knew it wasn't going to be easy for him as he thought about the last time he had played this composition through in its entirety, knowing it was well over ten years ago, even for someone like him, that was a long time.

Hinata's eyes were a little mystified as she glanced at the cell phone in her hand before shrugging as she watched him exit the aisle.

* * *

He had just been graciously allowed backstage by security when he noted Seiji was wasting no time sealing his fate as he sent the announcer out on stage to let the restless concert-goers know about the change in performers tonight.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the delay. We have a change in performers to announce. Our pianist from Russia, Olga K-, cannot perform tonight due to illness. In her place we have a young man, who is considered to be something of a national treasure to Japan. Internationally renowned scientist, physicist and researcher, Doctor Itachi Uchiha, is also a gifted pianist and has graciously offered to perform in her place. The concert shall commence in fifteen minutes."

Stunned by what she just heard, Hinata's jaw dropped, she had thought he had just gone to the bathroom and had been waiting patiently for him to come back.

Her eyes closed slowly and a small dazed smile began to play over her mouth as her heart began to swell in amazement when she realized he was going to play something insanely difficult – without any rehearsals or practice - just for her. If he messed up even a little - the whole concerto would fall apart around him.

_Oh Itachi!_

Sitting on the edge of her seat, her eyes were glued to the stage, the piano in particular. Her mind began to mull over a growing sense of awe and some dismay as she realized she had no idea he was so well known. In the short time she had known him he had been far from being an open book about his educational background or his work. She could tell talking about those subjects made him uncomfortable, so she had been carefully avoiding them.

As she waited for the concert to start, she did a quick internet search on him and was blown away by the amount of information that came up. On the world stage he was a very in-demand conference speaker and was considered to be the foremost expert on traumatic brain injuries. He was also known for his innovative approaches to research that was interdisciplinary in combining scientific reasoning to medical research.

There was a general consensus amongst his peers and the international scientific community that he was so intelligent his IQ couldn't even accurately be measured.

The more she read about his awards and accomplishments the more overwhelmed she began to feel, she had always known there was nothing average about him, but now she was starting to feel a little incredulously like she had a tiger by the tail.

The utterly sweet and adorably serious man she had just spent the last few hours making out with like a sex starved teenager was probably going to do something amazing that would affect the lives of millions around the world. He had the extraordinary ability to do so, and nearly everyone in the international scientific community fully expected him to.

No wonder her father had such a massive future son-in-law crush on him.

Her eyes were clouded as they alighted to the stage as she saw he would be coming out soon and she wondered with some trepidation just where she would fit in his life. What did he expect out of her?

* * *

The conversation between the conductor and his substitute pianist was a bit more tense and nervous behind the scenes than when they appeared on stage together moments later. As they nodded smoothly to one another with the greatest of composure, both of them hid any nerves they had behind perfectly self-assured movements.

Itachi sat gracefully behind the piano and stretched his hands out in front of him in preparation. His eyes scanned over the crowd looking for one person only. Time seemed to stand still when his eyes met hers and he waited for her to give him what he needed from her.

Her eyes were wide with surprise, before they softened gradually and she gazed back at him with a loving smile of encouragement.

_I love you_, he sent the thought to her before he released the breath he had been holding then he turned to Seiji and gave him the signal to begin.

With utter calmness and intense concentration his hands began to accurately strike the opening chords of the famously difficult piano concerto.

* * *

Her heart was racing so wildly in her chest Hinata almost forgot to breathe when she heard the familiar opening chords that he struck with his normal flawless precision. Before he started to play she had met his eyes and had seen the tension in them and knew he had been waiting for her to show her support to him.

The small amount of insecurity he had just revealed to her gave her a great deal of clarity, showing something important to her. Almost on an instinctive level she understood he didn't want anything out of the ordinary from her, now or in the future; he just wanted her to love him.

It was that simple.

As she listened to the sound of his richly cascading piano surrounded by the romantic winds section of the orchestra she sent her love back to him and gripped the back of the seat in front of her tightly.

Soon any nerves she had gripping her were beginning to disintegrate like sand being swept away by the sea as a powerfully undiluted joy began to sweep over her as the flawless sound of his piano and the orchestra supporting him was astonishingly beautiful. And Itachi almost seemed to be transported to another place as she watched with awe as his hands moved effortlessly over the keys, striking them with power at times and then with hauntingly romantic overtones.

Moved beyond words at what he was doing all for her, she listened in awe and her mouth curved into a misty smile feeling like she had just been given the world by him.

* * *

Wiping nervous beads of sweat from his brow with his tuxedo clad arm, the conductor listened to the perfectly keyed and timed sounds coming from the piano with an undeniably relieved smile. He had been taking a huge gamble allowing Itachi to fill in for a professional pianist.

But he trusted his young friend and that massively intelligent brain of his. He had recalled from one of their previous discussions when Itachi had told him of the piano pieces he had learned and he had mentioned this one.

As he waved his baton he listened intently, and something about the sound of the piano made him smile knowingly. It had all of the technical perfection he had expected from Itachi, but tonight there was an intangibly romantic quality to it that made Seiji suspect his young scientist friend was in love. He had found over the years his musician's instruments sounded lighter and more richly beautiful when they were under the influence of that euphoric emotion.

Seiji's weathered face was wreathed in a highly satisfied smile as he listened to the exquisite sounds coming from his orchestra and knew tonight was going to be one more highlight added to his already sparkling career. He also had someone filming all of it, especially Itachi, because before the night was over this performance was about to go viral and take the music world by storm.

Earlier in the evening when he heard his pianist, Olga, throwing up, it had been a complete disaster as they were on the verge of cancelling and all of the hassles that came along with it, and now as he watched Itachi swaying sedately and gorgeously over the piano, he felt like he had been sent a miracle this evening…and could only be very grateful his friend was wooing someone in such an over the top manner.

* * *

As he was nearing what was arguably one of the longest half hours of his life, Itachi tried to keep his breathing calm as he had to admit while performing with an orchestra without any practice had been fairly nerve-wracking, it had also been unexpectedly…enjoyable.

The sounds of the other instruments melding and weaving around his piano had been incredible from his perspective near the front of the stage, and to be a part of all of it made him feel intensely alive in ways he had never experienced before.

For most of his life, it had mostly been about learning/studying, responsibility, and work. Perhaps for the first time he was truly beginning to understand (like his brother kept telling him) there was more to life than just work and relentlessly driving himself to complete the massive goals he had set for himself.

The only exceptions to his pursuit of those rigidly set objectives had been the times he spent with Sasuke and his cousin, Shisui, when he was still alive.

However, if he was going to get married, he would have to make some changes in his life such as reducing his nearly obsessive work-schedule. He also thought of some of the amazing places in the world he has seen and would like to take Hinata someday to see them.

The music was finally starting to come to a spectacular close and his adrenaline was pumping as his fingers raced over the keys with a flourish as the rest of the orchestra soared beautifully around him. As his fingers struck the last triumphal chords he expelled a deeply relieved breath and for a moment it felt exhilarating just to be alive.

In the concert hall it was deathly quiet as the audience absorbed and mulled over what had been a simply magnificent performance from start to finish. Then after a few shouts of "Bravo," the crowd stood to their feet in a standing ovation.

A few stunned moments later, Itachi stood up with a small smile towards his friend while Seiji bowed first before gesturing graciously toward him as he stood by the piano.

"That was a brilliant performance, my friend," Seiji complemented him with a hugely relieved grin as he patted his shoulder fondly.

Itachi accepted the compliment with the uneasy grace of someone who doesn't care for such praise. However, there was a modest smile on his face as he bowed to the nearly adoring crowd.

The refined audience went a little wild in response to his obvious modesty and flawless good looks, while flashbulbs from the media that was present started going off all around him as his eyes searched her out. Anxiety began to surface behind his eyes when he couldn't find her.

After one more almost obligatory bow and a quick word with Seiji he exited the stage as the musicians were starting to prepare for one more musical piece that didn't involve the piano. He soon found her in a large crowd of people who were trying to get past security to go to the backstage dressing rooms.

His eyes were on her adorably flushed face, which was accented beautifully by the lilac colored blouse he had bought her since she didn't have time to go home to change out of the stained one.

He had done something completely out of his comfort zone for her, and he was waiting to see her first reaction to it.

"Hinata," he called out to her and her face lit up joyously as she turned to him and started to walk past the crowd of shouting people and the security guards that now miraculously believed her story that she was his fiancé.

Wordlessly he pulled her behind the door and quickly into the dressing room they had provided for him. The nameplate over it said Olga, but that poor woman was back at her hotel suffering horribly with food poisoning.

As he closed the door behind them, Hinata looked at him with outrageously stunned eyes as she said breathlessly, "You just gave me the most insanely nerve-wracking half hour of my life."

"It was for me too," he admitted as his eyes watched her closely and he folded his arms in a satisfied manner when he saw the happiness lurking behind her eyes.

"Why did you do such a thing?" She had to ask him before the wildly joyful smile she was holding back completely engulfed her face.

"Temporary insanity," Itachi stated uncomfortably. "Remember the prefrontal cortex and amygdala parts of the brain I told you about, I think mine have been partially disabled."

Hinata released a shaky laugh as she was still a little shocked in a wonderful way about the lengths he was willing to go to in order to make her happy.

"You didn't have to do that…I would have been happy just going out to dinner," she explained with a weak laugh as she took a smiling step toward him.

"I know," he said as his eyes roamed warmly over her face. "I wanted to do it, perhaps someday we will tell our grandchildren about it."

"Oh Itachi," she uttered out as her blush deepened, before continuing in a stilted, slightly overawed way, "It was so beautiful… the sound was amazing…I am still in awe." Moving closer to him she tried to put her arms around him, but he impeded her forward progress by placing his hands gently around her arms.

"I need a shower first," he warned her, reminding her that he was indeed human. "I am covered with sweat."

"I don't mind," she said as she tilted her face sweetly toward his. Even though his tone of voice had been a little distant, she could tell by the warmth in his eyes her words had pleased him.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Itachi said in a smiling voice before leaning down and kissing her softly.

When he lifted his mouth off of hers she looked up at him with a somewhat hesitant light in her eyes as if she was debating whether or not to tell him something.

"What is it?"

"Your mother tried to text you and when I pulled it up I saw she has been trying to reach you all day," she chided him gently with slightly raised eyebrows.

"I didn't want to rush you by having you meet with my parents too soon," he offered as a brief explanation with a small shrug.

Hinata nodded as his explanation made sense to her, before she admitted with a half-smile, "I texted her back and accepted her invitation to dinner tomorrow." And her soft, yielding gaze let him know she was ready to move forward with their relationship.

"Are you sure you are ready?" He asked while his hand caressed her shoulder softly. There was an intently serious light in his eyes as they searched hers closely.

"Yes, I want to meet them," she said quietly as she succumbed to the inevitable. Things were moving quickly between them but she didn't seem to be able to stop it or even want to. It was as if she had virtually no defenses against him and at this point the only thing that mattered to her was being with him. Yet she still did have a few reservations regarding his obvious reluctance to discuss his work with her. Practically everything she has learned about it has come from a source other than him.

Itachi watched her closely as she seemed to be fighting an internal battle of sorts and was losing. Though he wanted to press her more to marry him sooner, he felt it would be a little unscrupulous of him considering all of the not so subtle pressure he has been putting on her.

He decided to be patient, knowing she would decide when she was ready. Though he had to admit the prospect of her meeting his parents made him uncomfortable to some degree, they were very difficult people…

**Author's Note:** I hope you all listened to the music while you read this, I think it really added something to it. Anyway, this story is winding down and I want to avoid making it too mushy or drawn out so it will definitely end soon. I hope you are all having wonderful times during this holiday season. Hugs.

**Note:** I started working on Itachi's Ghost and also the epilogue for Kismet. If all goes well I will try to post them before the end of the year.


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